Frog Prince
by Henhito
Summary: Things have gone horribly wrong for Sesshomaru - he's been turned into a little, green imp and no one recognizes him. After his brother turns him away the unexpected answer to his problems pops up - out of a dry well.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfic so be kind. R&R please.

I'll only say this once for each story: Of course I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters, I just like messing with them.

Sesshomaru was beyond irritated or even angry, he was seething! The only thing that kept him from destroying everything within whip's length, besides the absence of said whip, was an uncertainty as to whom to direct his discontent at. Was he pissed that this had happened to his person? Was he angry with the unknown someone(s) who had done it to him? Was he infuriated at his own guards for not listening to him? Was he shocked that his most loyal retainer did not recognize him, was he irritated that travel took so long thus prolonging his suffering (he refused to be humiliated)? Was he worried for the lack of protection for his little pack and leadership of the Western Lands in his absence? Was he frustrated that the only one he could think of to approach for help was his dreadful half-brother?

Yes, to all, and more.

On squat little legs he hobbled as fast as he could. Normally a trip that would take him less than a day, it had taken him almost a week traveling from his castle to the village where his brother liked to keep his pack. His sense of smell, while not up to its usual sensitivity was at least good enough to smell that he was about a mile from the human settlement. But it would seem that a hanyou's nose was still better than what he himself was currently experiencing at the moment because he could see the red clad figure of Inuyasha coming his direction. He was not tear towards the daiyoukai, as he normally would, with sword drawn. Sesshomaru was thankful that the big bulbous eyes were at least as good as his own, normally almond shaped, ones.

Sesshomaru stopped his forward progress so that his half-brother would not see the undignified waddle that he was restricted to. He pulled himself up to get as much height as he could and consciously put of a regal air. He hadn't had to try to look regal in centuries, he just did, but for this encounter he was really going to work for it.

Inuyasha was surprised when he smelled a foreign youkai in his territory. He knew that there were several youkai, lower and middle level, that lived within his territory that centered on the God Tree and included the pre-Edo, pre-Tokyo village that served as his pack's home base, but this one was new. It tickled his nose, almost familiar, but he was a dog – he always remembered scents and he had never come across this one before. So he went to investigate.

When he found it, about a mile outside of the village he couldn't help but laugh. It had started with a small chuckle and ended in a full guffaw as he came to a stop five feet away from the puffed up little toad. The thing looked just like his half-brother's retainer, the little green thing with the big mouth, but this one smelled different. And this one looked like a bull frog, all puffy and constipated looking. Inuyasha looked at the things face and the look of distain that it wore just made the whole sight that much more ridiculous. He laughed until he couldn't stand any longer. None of his friends were around to see him relax this much, so he let loose.

The imp just stood there, seeming to wait on his humor. When Inuyasha was able to stand again, he wiped the tear from the corner of his eye and looked at the intruder, "What the hell do ya think you're doin' in my territory, you little twerp?"

A look of fury passed over the creatures face, well, Inuyasha thought it might be fury but the odd shape of the face and the horrible color of the green flesh and bulging yellow eyes made it look more like a face made by the traveling performers that he sometimes saw meant to make little children laugh. He couldn't help himself, he had been in such a foul mood after his argument a couple days before with Kagome about her going home that he welcomed this comic relief.

"Ya might wanna consider takin' up as a travelin' comedian, you would be perfect, as long as the humans don't kill ya off first that is. Okay, enough o' that. Wadda ya want?" With effort he straightened and eyed the little fellow who was still making that funny face.

"Silence, mongrel. Do you not have the sense to recognize me?" The little imps squeaky voice made Inuyasha snort and fight to hold back the laughter threatening to break loose, but he managed a headshake in response. "This Sesshomaru has always thought your senses lacking."

That was it! Inuyasha was on the ground again. This time tears were streaming down his face as he clutched his sides, which were actually hurting from the magnitude of his mirth. "I don't care what you're doin' here, I gotta bring ya down for the guys to see ya. **You** are damn funny!"

The imp turned on his heals and began waddling away. Inuyasha was amused at the critter's impersonation of his half-brother. Every thing that it did was what Sesshomaru would do but with that distorted body each action, gesture, or expression was a grotesque parody of the regal daiyoukai. It was ridiculous and absolutely hilarious.

"Keh, Whatever. If ya change you're mind an' wanna try the comedy routine in the village, ya can come on down anytime. You're a riot!" Inuyasha was not about to drag the imp back to the village to be made fun of, and it didn't pose any threat so he let it go to do whatever it wanted. If it settled in the area he might stop by and ask it to do its impersonation when he needed a laugh.

_I wonder if it can do anyone else. _He thought as he headed back to the village to take a nap while he waited until his friend and shard-detector got back.

Sesshomaru was now humiliated, an emotion he had not experienced in years beyond count, and he did not like it. And for once in his long life he was unable to do anything about it. His own blood had not recognized him through the curse or spell or whatever the hell it was that had happened to him. He had received the acknowledgement of the area's protector so he could stay here and be safe while he worked out his next move. So he would have peace while he thought over his limited options.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagome landed at the bottom of the well and huffed when Inuyasha didn't immediately jump down to retrieve her. He had been quite grumpy about her leaving a couple of days ago so she didn't expect him to be there, but she was hoping. It was a huge pain to get out of the well on her own. She shouldered her pack and started up the side of the well with a whimper-groan.

When she reached the top she flung herself over the lip, landing in a sprawling heap. She had never figured out how to get out of the well with a fully loaded backpack gracefully, but since she only had to do it when she was alone she didn't worry about how she idiotic looked. She shrugged out of the pack and rolled over onto her back to gaze at the sky while she regained her breath. A giant smile lighted her face as she took great big gulps of the fresh spring air. The feudal era was so more clean, peaceful and overall soothing, crazed youkai attacks and demented half demon schemes aside, than her future and she relished it for the simple pleasure it was. She lay there with her arms outstretched and her skirt hitched a little high enjoying the sun on her body.

"Hn."

Kagome shot up to standing and reached for the bow strapped to her bag. Of course the bow was well attached and not wanting to come off without more of her focus. She let it go and focused on locating the source of the noise. Then she could decide if she needed to dedicate the time to retrieving the bow or if her time would be better spent high tailing it towards the village screaming at the top of her lungs. She was getting better at the whole fighting-for-your-life thing but she was not above resorting to the run-for-your-life alternative when it was wise.

Her eyes scanned the clearing not seeing anything. Her gaze swept over the clearing again. The third time over she thought she might have been going crazy, but then she saw it. She wouldn't have if it hadn't decided to move, its green skin blended into the shadows under the God Tree almost perfectly.

"Oh, Jaken, you scared me there for a second. Is Lord Sesshomaru around here somewhere? I hope you brought Rin with you. Shippo sure could use another child to play with once and a while." Kagome began to scan the clearing again for the missing pack mates as she walked over to the little imp. "You should all come and have dinner with us, I have a ton of food since I just got back…oh!"

Kagome stopped and stared at the distant tree that she had been looking when her brain finally caught up with her overly generous mouth – she had just gotten back and Jaken had seen her appear out of the well– how was she going to explain it. Her brain decided to catch up and she realized that there were several things odd with the situation. 1. When was the last time she had seen Jaken without Rin, at least when she hadn't just been kidnapped? 2. When had Jaken ever been quiet for any amount of time greater than 10 seconds when Sesshomaru wasn't making him be quiet? 3. What would Jaken be doing here alone anyway?

Kagome's mind seemed to be speeding and stopping alternately. It was time for it to stop again – _Rin! Oh no, not RIn. _The only reasonable conclusion she could come up with was that something terrible had happened to Rin, Jaken was very distraught and thus quiet and had been sent by Sesshomaru to get help (Sesshomaru had seen her heal her friend with her medicine before).

"Rin!" She almost sobbed as she turned suddenly to face the imp. "Where is she? What has happened? Is she hurt…"

Kagome raced back to her pack and started pulling out all of her clothing and throwing them over her shoulder as she desperately dug out her first aid kit.

"Stop."

The authority in the squeaky little voice had Kagome halted and eyes raised in question in an instant. The little green figure stood and looked at her. She looked back with worry plastered all over her face for the little girl whom she, and everyone who met her, loved.

"Rin is safe."

Kagome sagged in relief, letting her head fall into her left hand, supported on her leg while the right hand went to cover over her heart that was racing a million miles a minute. Then in her unique stop-start way she had another thought that stopped her heart. "Lord Sesshomaru!" She looked up at the imp questioningly but answered her own question immediately, "No. That's impossible. Nothing could hurt him."

"Hn."

Kagome paused at this. That sound tickled her brain. She finally stopped and looked at Jaken, really looked at him and gasped. "You're not Jaken!" She whispered. She jumped to her feet. She didn't know enough about whatever it was that Jaken was to know if they could be dangerous or not. Jaken never seemed to be a threat, but this one was … different somehow. _Could such a small and ugly creature be a threat? _She thought incredulously as she stared at the figure by the tree. _Fight or flight? Flight or fight? _

"Stop."

She hadn't even realized that she had moved but she was a few feet away from her pack at this point, but still facing the unknown youkai.

"Come here."

She tensed and considered bolting but her instincts said to follow the command. She had always listened to her intuition when it struck her (that's how she got her best friend off a tree a couple years ago). She cautiously started towards the God Tree and the diminutive figure. She took slow and deliberate steps, giving herself enough time to think through her situation. Then she was struck by a revolutionary thought – thinking wasn't getting anything done other than give her mild panic attacks. She decided to take a wait and see approach with her brain "off", instincts "on". Maybe her heart might survive the day that way.


	3. Chapter 3

_She is a spastic creature wasn't she_. Sesshomaru thought to himself as he watched her approach him cautiously, but she had listened to his command and that pleased him. It was the way others were meant to respond to him. His recent run-ins with disobedience had left a bitter taste in his mouth and her obedience, however reluctant, helped restore his sense of self. Not that he would ever admit to not feeling himself, but this was an unusually stressful situation, anyone would have to admit that.

Finally she stood about ten feet from him.

"Sit."

She kneeled and sat in front of him expectantly. He stared at her. She stared at him. He glared at her. She hurriedly bowed and offered up an apology, "Lord Sesshomaru, please forgive my lack of manners."

A look of shock touched both their faces, but Sesshomaru was able to hide his quickly before she looked up at him. Her eyes were huge when her head shot up to stare at him. Then her face changed subtly, still shocked and confused but also inquisitive. If she was a dog, like him, he was sure that she would have been scenting the air searching for his identity. But she was not a dog, she wasn't even a normal human, so she was using whatever odd sense she had to test the truth of her own words. He could see the moment she accepted him in his current state for who he truly was.

She was back to bowing before him. A quick duck of apology and respect as she repeated her earlier apology, as if she meant it with her brain not just her gut this time. In that moment Sesshomaru felt another rare emotion for him – relief. Someone knew him. Someone knew him for himself. It might not be a very helpful person, but just being recognized helped somehow.

Her eyes met his. She showed respect but she was not cowering, not that she ever really had in his presence, she had always been a bold little slip of a girl. But now he needed her. _Ha, I need someone. When was the last time that happened? And why of all people is it my half-brother's woman that can see past this change? _

"You will come with me."

Kagome looked at him in shock, mouth hanging open and eyes bugging out. Her face was completely transparent. He saw everything as it passed over her face. He saw her try to think why he would need her. First it was worry – Rin? Then a tiny shake of the head – that had already been denied. Her brows knit together and cocked her head slightly to the side in puzzlement - Jaken? Shake of the head – youkai and beyond her knowledge of aid. A quick look over his shoulder to the edge of the trees - Ah-Un? Shake of the head – again, youkai. She started to worry her lip with her teeth as she tried to puzzle it out.

He took some pity on the slightly dull witted human and looked pointedly at her and then down at himself. Her eyes sparkled and she actually hit the palm of her hand to her forehead. Of course, he was the one who needed help, but the girl was smart enough to keep that thought to herself, even if he could read it in every line of her body.

She considered him for a moment and said, "I will go get Inuyasha. He will probably be of more he… appropriate than me. You might not get along well, but I'm sure he'd hel… do anything you required of him."

He watched her knot her hands in her lap as she tried to avoid the word "help" for his pride and tempers sake. She amused him. She was odd. Very odd. But she was what Fate had given him.

"No, you will come. Now."

"No, I mean, I have to go back to my friends," Kagome fidgeted. " I would love to hel…serve you but I belong with my friends, with my pack. Inuyasha says that inuyoikai need packs and that they respect each other's packs. I can't leave my pack. I don't want to leave my pack."

He looked at her. She seemed to genuinely regret her inability to help him.

"You will return to them when it is over. As the Lord of the Western Land and alpha of all inuyoukai I have the right to insist on the aid of any pack member within my territory or a family member's pack – as Inuyasha both resides within the Western Lands and is of my father's blood he is doubly obliged to comply with my wishes."

Kagome looked at him in shock for a minute, then she looked slightly panicked. "I didn't know this was in the Western Lands," she started, then her face gained a soft red hue and a ferocity as she processed all of his words. "You hate being related to Inuyasha. You can't just call in blood ties when it's convenient for you. Besides, I'm not a inuyoukai. I'm not any type of youkai." She ended with a slightly haughty tone, her emotions once again overriding her better sense when dealing with youkai of great power and little patience.

Thankfully he was feeling generous towards her and decided to be amused instead of insulted. "This land had always fallen under my domain. I simply allow the half-breed to occupy it. We are blood, we may not like the fact but neither can we deny it. He will comply. Finally, your race matters not, you yourself have claimed membership in his pack to this Sesshomaru; therefore you have put yourself at my disposal. You will be coming with me. Now."

"Wait, wait. You can't just cart me off without telling anyone. Since I belong to Inuyasha's pack don't you have to inform him or something. You know, make a formal request or something."

"Hn."

She had him there. He would have to inform Inuyasha of the "borrowing" of his pack member. This was a very old custom and he was unsure as to whether or not his brother would know of it. Hopefully he had enough inu blood in him to make the obedient to a superior species member instinctual. If not, Sesshomaru would put him at the top of the "To Be Killed Once I Am Restored" List. But there was the issue of convincing Inuyasha of who he was. It had not gone well the first time. Perhaps the girl would be helpful in convincing him, but if he could come up with an alternative to getting his sibling's assistance, one with less humiliation and more secrecy...

"Tell me what you require and we can go from there," the seated girl said with a slight smirk that indicated that she had read the situation just fine.

He had to admit that the best alternative to his situation was to negotiate with this woman for her assistance and silence. He heaved a sigh of resignation in his head to himself and folded the awkward, stumpy legs under his odd body and sat facing the odd girl. This might take a while.


	4. Chapter 4

_Well, that took long enough_. Kagome thought to herself as she got unsteadily to her feet. She had been sitting respectfully in front of the imp that was Sesshomaru for nearly an hour trying to get as much information out of him as possible. _He has a serious case of constipation of the mouth! If this is what it's like to be a dentist no wonder they make so much money – you'd have to pay me a fortune to pull teeth every day, _she thought sourly as she looked over her shoulder at the cursed daiyoukai.

But for today it had been worth it. She had negotiated his future alliance in hunting down and finishing off Naraku and a promise of future acknowledgement of Inuyasha's parentage and his rights thereof. All she had to do was convince Inuyasha to let her go off for an indeterminate amount of time, figure out what had happened to Sesshomaru and fix it, without letting anyone know what she was doing or had happened – ever.

_Easy. Okay, not easy, but worth it if I can pull it off. Besides, I can't just leave him like this. It's just so … wrong. Sesshomaru, as horrible as he can be should still be Sesshomaru. Like this he's… pitiful, and that's just not right. _She turned away from the still seated figure towards the path back to the village._ Now the hard part – convincing Inuyasha to let me go. Yeah, "convincing"…_

She left the imp sitting under the tree and headed off towards the village. It was major poker face time. She had a big bluff that she had to pull off. She had two hours to accomplish her task and meet back up with Sesshomaru at the God Tree.

Half way to the village the red clad hanyou dropped out of a tree startling Kagome who let out an "eep!" of surprise. She was so lost in her mental rehearsal that she missed his approach all together.

_Okay, show time, _she thought as she drew in a deep breath. She used all of her lung capacity to fuel the loudest "SIT!" ever. She paused for almost a full minute to make sure that he regained consciousness before she continued. She didn't want to do it this way but she couldn't think of anything else, at least not on such short notice. She couldn't stop, she had to keep going, and it's not like she was going to lie about anything.

When he started to twitch she began her high volume rant, "I know. You jerk. You didn't think I knew that you were still in love with her. Of course you are, she's perfect, and me – I've never been her and I'll never be her so I'm useless. I'm worse than useless to you because I remind you of everything you'll never have again. I was talking with my friends and they helped me see. You can't love me no matter how much I love you. Well, loved you. I don't love you anymore. Well, I do but not like that." She took another deep breath and gathered her resolve_. Must keep going, must keep going. Focus._ " I wanted to. I wanted to hang onto that feeling, to you, to what I hoped would develop, but I can't hold on anymore. I need time without you. I'll come back. But not now. Not for a long time. I can't stand the thought of being around you right now. You can't look at me and not see her shadow and I can't look at you and not see the shadow of your love for someone else. I have had it. No more. Don't follow me. I'm going away. Far away and you can't stop me. I'll come back and we can be like we've always been and I will never want anything more than your friendship. You've lost any shot at my heart. You jerk. I want to hit you and kick you and…"

She jumped back in surprise as Inuyasha exploded out of the hole she had made with the force of her command. "What the HELL do you think you're doing? Leaving? NO WAY IN HE-"

"SIT!" She screamed so loud her throat hurt with only the one word.

Inuyasha wouldn't be waking up for a while but she would still have to hurry. She sprinted down the path to the village. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She hasn't lied but she wasn't planning on saying it like that. In fact, she had never planned on saying anything – ever. She was just going to let it fall by the wayside. It hurt, coming to know for certain that her first love would never be realized, but not as much as she thought it would. Still, she cried.

She stepped into Kaede's hut and grabbed a bottle from a hidden compartment under the floorboards in the far corner. She dashed across the way to the hut that worked as the group's base in the village. She was lucky that it was Miroku that was there; it would make it easier this way.

"Miroku, listen, I have to be fast so listen very closely. I have to leave for a while. I'm doing something that could really help us in our fight but Inuyasha would never go for it so I have to do it without him, or you guys. Before you ask, yes, I feel that it really must be done. I have told Inuyasha about not loving him anymore in hopes that it will keep him from really trying to find me for a while. I did it… roughly so that he'll be pissed. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can but you have to trust me in this. Please."

Her speech, given at a break neck pace to the startled monk, took less than a minute to give but she was sure that she was running out of time.

His startled face became blank for a moment, as his thoughts processed everything she said. Then he looked at her and nodded. He was a good judge of character and motives and had known Kagome for years now. Kagome would not do something so outrageous unless it was needed. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small stack of sutras and handed them to her. "These confuse the senses of youkai. If you put one on your skin Inuyasha won't be able to follow your scent for about 20 minutes. They wear off quick but hopefully you'll have enough here to get wherever you're going. I'll tell Sango and Shippo that you'll be back. Now, little sister, I think its time you depart or our illustrious leader might catch you and tie you up so you can't get away." He hugged her with a quick pat on the rump, turned her round and gave her a shove towards the door.

"Thank you for understanding. I'll return – eventually." She called as she headed for the door. Once clear she didn't even look back. "Hopefully, " she finished in a whisper as she took off at a dead run. He legs and lungs protested their abuse but she had to go faster. She scanned the clearing as she ran up the path to the well. She stopped leaning on the well for a moment. She didn't see what she was looking for so she assumed that Sesshomaru had moved it so she did the only thing she had time for – she dropped two of the sutras and said, "Put these on my bag, wherever you stashed it, it should hide my scent from him." He'd have to figure out how to manage a sutra but he was a smart little cookie, he'd think of something. With that she was up and over the well and swallowed by light and magic.

She hit the bottom in her time but didn't stop. She ran into the house and saw her mother in the kitchen. She gave her a peck on the cheek and did another mile-a-minute speech. "Something big came up and I have to go for a while. Inuyasha might come looking for me – tell him I ran away or something and you have no idea where I am but that I was very upset with him. Don't worry, mama, I'll be with someone who has easily laid Inuyasha out several times, and he's known for his protective side, so I'll be fine. And, I'm sorry but I gotta go."

She felt sorry that her inspiration in this half-baked plan was running out. _In for a penny, in for a pound_, was all she could think as she dashed up the stairs to her room to grab her wallet was up the stairs. She rushed back down and out the door as her mother called somewhat desperately after her, "I love you. Be careful." What Kagome missed hearing was the whispered, "Come back to me someday, baby girl. I miss you."

Kagome sprinted to the train station three blocks away and ducked into a restroom stall. She opened her blouse and plastered the sutra right across her stomach and said a little prayer that Miroku's sutras worked better than her grandfather's.

She would have run if she still had it in her but as it was she hobbled at a speed walk back to her family's shrine keeping an eye up for any flying red figures. She saw it just as she was starting up the back stairs leading up the shrine. She caught a glimpse of red as it headed off after the trail she had left to the station – out the front of the shrine. If she knew him, he would chase after her initially out of anger, then leave her alone for several days out of hurt.

That was all her brain and body could keep up with, she started working on autopilot.

Back down the well. Reapply sutra. Climb out of the well. Run to the God Tree. Grab bag. Follow little green thing.

Her physical and emotional exhaustion had sapped all of her energy from thinking. She thought that that was probably a good thing, or at least later, when she could think again, she would think that. For now she was walking off to an adventure that would most likely get her killed, at least once.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you Haltia and clara954 for the reviews! And thanks to everyone else who added this to your alerts – I was so happy to see others interested in this story. I'll really try to update regularly.

Haltia- oh, if only it were that simple…

CHAPTER 5

_I may have made a mistake_. Sesshomaru thought to himself belatedly. He resisted a grimace as he looked over his shoulder at the young woman following a ways behind him. _She is either devious in her tactics or utterly insane._

After witnessing her earlier behavior he was leaning towards insanity. Years of dealing with his half-breed brother could push even the strongest mind to madness, he reasoned. Then again, he was ready to give her almost anything she wanted just so she would stop – that was a great concession for anyone to get from the daiyoukai.

It had started off well enough. After her mad dash about the countryside and magical display at the well (which had not escaped his notice) she had followed him, eyes trained on the back of his head, never questioning where they were going or how far it was or any of the other questions he would have refused to answer but that a normal being, human or youkai, would have asked. Instead she was silent for several hours trudging after him. This had pleased him. He enjoyed silence and obedience, though he had wondered what had inspired her to act thusly. Then it had begun…

"The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah. The ants go matching five by five and the little one stops to take a dive. And they all go marching down, into the ground, to get out of the rain. The ants go marching six by six…"

The young woman had been singing annoying rhythmic songs for about an hour. Ironically, she had not tried to engage him in conversation, conversation he could have ignored. This… this was something else. This was unbearable. This was torture. This had to stop or he would be following her into madness.

He turned abruptly to face the source of his aggravation. "Woman. Silence."

She froze when his body had turned to look at her. Her eyes were glazed over and while she wasn't making any noise her mouth seemed to be continuing the words of her annoying song. He glared at her and still she was nonresponsive. _Insane_.

She was a few meters behind. He moved towards her to inspect her closer after he noticed her start to sway slightly where she stood. Her shoulders were slumped under the weight of her pack and seemed numb to the world. He was too short now to look her in the eyes, but her eyes tracked him as he approached her, as if her brain limited to the simple order: follow.

_Ah. _He recognized this state. He was a commander of soldiers; he had seen men pushed to their limit and beyond. This was a case of that state that occurs when a body no longer has the ability to move under its own will but gives it up to another and simple acts as that other commands. Of course she was a weak human and had been worn out by something that wouldn't tire a young youkai, but still she was showing surprising perseverance and…trust.

"Hn," he grunted in grudging approval. He turned and walked for another quarter of an hour until he reached a spot that would work as a campsite for the woman to rest. She continued to follow him, mouthing her song without making a sound in compliance with his order, but unable to let go of the walking chantey that was moving her forward.

He entered the clearing and walked to the far side before turning around to face the strange girl. She stopped when he turned towards her and stood, blank faced, waiting. He sat down in front of a tree and leaned back and looked away.

He watched from the corner of his eye as she was released from her numbness and fell to the ground in a clumsy heap with her pack hitting the ground awkwardly and pulling her to the ground. She was laying half on her side touching the ground, half arched backwards over the pack still attached to her back.

For a moment she only had enough energy to move her eyes. She looked at him from her strange position and grinned. "I will never call Inuyasha a slave driver again. You, sir, are a tough taskmaster. Someday, when I have the energy to stay awake, I will ask you how you manage to do it without saying a word. But for now, I'm pooped."

He examined her for a moment to make sure that she had not soiled herself as she had just claimed. Finding no evidence he regarded her quizzically trying to ascertain the meaning of her strange words, assuming that they had to do with her exhaustion but unable to make the connection between the phrase and the condition they described.

_Hn, insane_, he concluded as he once again looking away. As she started to make noise that indicated she was moving around his shifted his eyes back to her, still facing away from her. In that moment he wished desperately to have his normal senses back to that he would not have to actually look to know what she was doing.

She seemed to have gathered her last reserves of energy and was disentangling herself from the straps of her pack. She used her momentum to roll away and up onto her knees. She laughed at something that he could not discern as she detached a strange looking bedroll. She was shaking her head as she laid it out, and started laughing again as she crawled into the giant pocket it created.

She looked over at the imp that was impossible for her to distinguish, except for the eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dark with reflected the night light. In the forest at night and smiled an immense smile and whispered, "Good night, Lord Sesshomaru, don't let the bed bugs bite."

Each breath was deeper than the last and within a dozen she was breathing with the ease of sleep.

He turned his full attention to the sleeping figure now that she was unable to see his scrutiny. He sat there contemplating her. He replayed everything he had seen her do and heard her say. He cataloged everything in his mind for future reference and to add to as more information presented itself. She was a strange puzzle that intrigued him and he loved puzzles.

While he questioned at her sanity at times because of her behavior, she did not seem to be mentally unbalanced. He had concluded that her insane tendencies had to fit in somewhere with her overall oddness. He wanted figure her out without any direct inquiries. He would construct the truth from the unknowing hints she dropped.

He attempted to meditate but it only worked to accentuate the profound emptiness within him. Instead he focused on his own puzzle, ignoring the aching hollowness that filled his mind.

He focused instead on another puzzle that he had been contemplating for the past week, and what a week it had been! He had been given plenty of opportunity for thinking while a loyal soldier and a misguided order pursued him out of his territory. He was pleased and amazingly frustrated that his soldiers were so disciplined and obedient at carrying out their orders. He also felt mixed appreciation at the ironic loophole that he had inadvertently created by unofficially giving Inuyasha territory within the Western Lands. It had saved him from complete exile into another daiyoukai's territory but it had meant that he had been more or less saved by his annoying half-brother.

Refocusing on the events leading up to his misfortune, he ran through it one more time. He had almost nothing to go on he had gone over the details hundreds of times at this point., but still he persisted, knowing that there was a clue somewhere in there.

He had been one day into his yearly month-long patrol of his lands when he started feeling dizzy. He examined his surroundings but there were no smells or sounds to indicate that there was anything amiss. Whoever was laying the spell or curse on him did not have to be present to do it. He had sagged against a tree and lost consciousness within a minute of his first symptom. He awoke with a vague sense of persecution and purpose as the moon rose in the evening sky. He was in his current condition. It was not a lot to go on.

He spent the night keeping an eye out for trespassers, not that he expected to find any as this spot was one of his favorites to stop with Rin when they traveled together and other creatures tended to avoid it. Still he kept watch and thought alternately between the two puzzles before him. One was frustrating but important, the other was wiggly in her sleep and entertaining.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kagome awoke with a groan as the sun light that filtered through the branches overhead shown intermittently in her eyes as the boughs swayed overhead in the light breeze. She blinked a couple of times up at the natural tapestry that trees created appreciating them for their simple beauty. As much as she hated waking up – ever – it was almost always better to do so in the feudal era where things needed to be done but weren't ever so timed as to have time pieces, alarms and appointments necessary everywhere to keep you on time and rushing off to the next thing.

She wondered what had moved Inuyasha to kindness this morning. He rarely let her sleep in, but she was always thankful when she got it. Curiously she turned her head to see what everyone else was doing so quietly.

"HOLY SHI-!" She screamed as she bolt upright at the sight of the toad-like creature sitting just a few feet from her, looking directly at her with big bug eyes. She was backing up on the ground like a worm with her legs tangled in her sleeping bad.

The weird face before her distorted, going from plain hideous to comical, as it seemed to be trying to raise and eyebrow that was not only nonexistent, but had no forehead upon which to raise up. She let out a little bleat of humor before she clamped her hand over her mouth remembering in an instant the previous day and the strange situation she had gotten herself into.

"Ah-ha-ha" She laughed awkwardly at herself hoping to look the fool rather than have Sesshomaru think that she was laughing at him. "Good morning, Lord Sesshomaru." She began as she maneuvered her sleeping bag encased body into an awkward kneeling position. As she bowed respectfully she hastily formed an apology, "As you can see, I am not at my…um… quickest first thing in the morning. I apologize for yelling so close to your person."

She stayed kneeling, head bowed to the ground, and waited. She might be a bold, 21st century woman who tended to let her emotions carry her to impulsive acts of heroism or stupidity, depending on how you look at it, but she was not without manners. She had lived in this time long enough to know how important social standing and respect for those above oneself. She was raised in a shrine – she knew all about pomp and circumstance and prostrating one's self. She had even done additional research on this era's particular customs and practices in her school library the few times she had spare time after school and her friends weren't pulling her away to talk about boys.

_If there is anyone, anywhere, any when that I need to show respect for its this guy_, she thought to herself as she waited. _He might not be completely himself right now, but even without that imposing stature and threatening youki – _

Her head shot up to stare for a moment at the oddly billed face. She looked at him in startled realization. Then noting the reproachful look she bowed her head again, with it touching actually touching the ground this time and her head turned slightly to the side exposing her neck the way Inuyasha had said was common to inuyoukai in human form seeking to appease a superior for a wrong they had done. She mumbled another apology.

Her thoughts whirled quickly around in her mind. _Oh crap! How did I miss that! I mean, I know I had to notice it, or notice not noticing it, but, I didn't really think about it. What does that mean? He isn't exuding any youki. I know he can sometimes pull it into himself but I can always sense it rolling about when he's standing in front of me. If its gone… oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!_

She missed the look of satisfaction that passed over the imp's face that was replaced by puzzlement as the waves of dread spread out from the woman. Her aura was strong enough in normal situations that almost anyone could feel what she was feeling. Unconsciously it was what helped her make friends everywhere she went – if she was happy and friendly the people around her felt that and were inclined to follow her emotional leading. In this moment, with emotions of dread and fear fueling her power and aura the entire wood around them fell silent, sharing in her momentary panic, waiting for whatever it was descend upon them and devour them.

"Miko," the imp addressed her, calling attention to her powers in a single word.

She heard the command and reprimand in his voice. While it came out in a weird squawk she was able to hear Sesshomaru's normal smooth baritone in her head. Kaede had made her aware of her aura's powerful influence on her surroundings. However, she did not control it most of the time, like Kaede had taught her. It was actually quite tiring to try and control such an unruly beast as her powers. Instead she had worked out for herself how to tame it. She relaxed in place, letting her head turn all the way to the side, resting her cheek on the cool, damp ground, and began to slow her thoughts. She talked herself into calmness and then just let even that thought slip away. Meditation. Peace with and within oneself. The only mild semblance of control she had.

"Hn."

Her lips twitched into a smile for an instant. She had heard the approval in that noise. She held onto the calm and she lifted her head into the more traditional inuyoukai modified bow of supplication and began waiting again.

"Get up. Eat. We will leave soon."

_Why does he sound so…sad_, she thought as she say up and promptly fell backwards, not able to negotiate the movement within the confines of the sleeping bag. _Oh bother! Stupid freakin'…_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_Very good. _He thought as he looked at her kneeling form. He was pleased with her in the same way he had been when a servant showed surprising promise in an unexpected area or a soldier was discovered to have an innate capability at a difficult weapon. It was pleasure at finding basic tool more promising and refined than first thought. First she knew the proper way to seek forgiveness from an inuyoukai. At least her time spent his half brother wasn't a complete drain on her mental faculties. Second, although she seemed to loose control (not an acceptable situation, especially considering his current state) she had managed to reign in her surprising power with a single word of rebuke. He had thought her completely untrained but that seemed to be untrue, at least to some extent.

_Odd_, he thought to himself as he watched her closely as her aura and power calm, _she is different from other priestesses I have met. Most clamp down on their power and use it as a tool, controlling it like a weapon. She calms it, coerces it into cooperation, works with it rather than subjugating it. She treats it more like… _ A sharp awareness of his own current state shot through him. …_like a youkai treats the beast within… of which I am currently without._

"Get up. Eat. We will leave soon."

The girl fell over in her attempt to sit up and continued rolling about the ground until she managed to get to her hands and knees and crawl out of the encompassing sleeping sheath. His mood was still heavy but not but not smothering as it had been just moments before. This strange girl was strangely like a mixture of Rin's pure and simple thoughts and attitudes and Jaken's humorous awkwardness and industry.

He watched as she rolled up her bedroll and stowed it away. Then she surveyed the clearing as if it would tell her her next step. Apparently it did. She moved with purpose to a large pile of berries that were sitting on a large leaf next to a piece of dried meat and a bamboo container of water. She looked at it and then at him, back and forth several times.

"You got me breakfast." She stated her obvious conclusion in shock. "You let me sleep in. You get me food. You forgive me without yelling at me. Lord Sesshomaru, not only are you a tougher taskmaster than your brother, you're a way better caregiver than him. I will never wonder after Rin's wellbeing under your care again."

"Hn." He honestly did not know how to feel about her praise. It was habit to care for those under his protection. He might be missing the beast that gave him his protective instincts and lacking the magical youki and the physical body to protect; his soul, the one thing he still had possession of, was content to have provided for her and to have her acknowledge and be thankful for it. It was a strange feeling to have towards this new person.

As she began to eat he had the overwhelming urge to understand her earlier panic. It was rare for him not to be able to discern a creature's motives for action or behavior. He puzzled at it for a minute until he admitted ignorance. _Just add one more humiliation to the growing stack and ask her_, he goaded himself. Strange, even without the energy of the beast its essence seemed to have lingered in his mind.

"Miko," again using the one word to draw both their attention to the power of her station. "What caused your earlier outburst?"

She seemed to be a quick study on his communication style and did not question which outburst he was asking about, already understanding that he was not referring to the incident that she had been made to kneel before him for a good twenty minutes, but the quiet one that neither had mentioned yet.

"I just noticed …" She seemed to be deciding what exactly to tell him. With resolution in her eyes, she stared directly into his and stated the facts that almost made him flinch. "I noticed that you do not have your youki and therefore are unable to protect me. Or yourself. That leaves me responsible for defense. Yet I slept all through the night. I put us both at risk. I'm sure you would have found a decent place to spend the night but with me you choose to a place out in the open. I failed. Plus, I am scared. I have never been the one responsible for keeping others safe. I have always been the one being kept safe. I guess I knew that someday I would be the responsible one, but I thought I'd be responsible for me, not for someone else too, and especially not you. What if I do, or don't so something and something happens to you. Inuyasha would never forgive me. Rin would be devastated. What would happen to the Western Lands?"

She had started off strong but began to ramble and her aura became more and more agitated. Finally she sat there looking dejected but the worry and fear of failure was still in the cast of her shoulders and the fluctuation of her aura.

"I am more than capable of taking care of myself. However, I do recommend you be more aware for yourself. As you have observed I am…lacking my usual force. Now eat so that we can continue and end said condition."

She took his words as comfort and munched on the food. She shook her head as to clear it. " 'Yesterday is gone forever, Tomorrow hasn't come yet, Today is only the day we have and it is beautiful*.' " She said sagely. "It would be beautiful if I could get clean."

There was a difference between a question and a statement. It was a statement so he did not answer her. Or maybe he just felt like being difficult and not understand the pragmatics of the situation. Then she looked at him with big hopeful eyes. _She and Rin could compete with their eager little puppy dog eyes. I must work on my resistance to such tactics. _

"There is a small stream," he conceded. He resisted an eye roll at her beaming smile of satisfaction at getting her way. The more time around this particular creature the more he would have to school his face – she was exasperating and amusing all at the same time and he was finding it hard to deny many small gestures and expressions.

"Oh great! Where?"

He nodded his head in the direction of the stream. She shouldered her pack and headed off calling over her shoulder, "I'll be right back."

He followed her. They could leave from the stream just as easily as from the campsite. He watched as she fished several strange brushes out of her pack and a new set of clothing. He watched as she groomed herself and changed, waiting patiently for the unusually long and detailed grooming (at least for a human) to be completed.

When she was finished she turned to head back the way. She stood frozen in place for a moment when she spotted him. Then she opened her mouth and screamed. He winced slightly at the volume of the scream and for the first time in a week was thankful for his reduced hearing.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" She demanded to know.

"Come." He turned and began to walk off, ignoring her question and blatantly rude and unreasonable behavior. He just wanted to continue on so they could be done and go on their separate ways. He moved off expecting her to follow as obediently as she had the previous day.

"Oh, I do NOT think so, mister" Her voice came from the same spot as he continued on. "What were you doing watching me? Did you watch me change? Are you a peeping tom? I can't believe this. Where are you going?"

He was not about to listen to her screaming or answer any of her questions. He may need her at the moment but he was never inferior to her. He kept walking. She would follow eventually. His followers always did.

An hour later he stopped. He turned and saw nothing. He waited for a time to see if she was just slow or hesitant after behaving so unseemly.

She had not followed him. He considered what to do. _Do I really need her?_ He questioned. He sat calculating for several more moments. _Unfortunately I do not see an alternative. Cursed little brat of a miko._

* This is a quote that I found when I did a internet search for Buddhist saying about not worrying over tomorrow. I liked it and thought it fit Kagome so I used it. .org/plinks/PSAG-7TGVDQ


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Hello 'Unstoppable Force', I'm 'Immovable Object'." Kagome said when he reappeared by the stream several hours later. "I'll spell this out for you, Lord Sesshomaru. I will respect you when you respect me. I will follow you when you are worthy of following. And I will dig my heals in, and not move if I feel strongly about something. I will kick and scream bloody murder if there is a question I feel MUST be answered and you ignore it. This is how I am and if I have to deal with your silent, I'm-better-than-you-could-ever-dream-of-being attitude than you will darn well deal with my little foibles. Understood?"

She stood staring down at the green-faced imp. Her fury and frustration was pouring off of her. She could see him consider her words and her mood.

"And if I do not answer these questions this arrangement it void?"

"Oh, hell yeah."

What is the question?"

"For now it is: why did you invade my privacy and watch me change?"

He was silent for a moment considering her. "It was more expedient than waiting for you in the clearing. I do not understand why you feel I have 'invaded your privacy', you were only grooming."

She stared at him in shocked amazement. First because he had answered her, she really wasn't expecting him to. Secondly, she actually believed him. He did not understand why she was upset. Just to clarify she asked, "You don't see anything wrong with watching me strip naked and wash myself?"

He regarded her and the blush that was working its way up her face. He cocking the billed face slightly to the side, looking strangely like a like a confused green Chihuahua. "This must be a human hang up, but I have never witnessed it in Rin."

He seemed completely honest in his bewilderment. Was it an instinct thing? No, Inuyasha seems to be modest enough. Sesshomaru said Rin did not exhibit this reservation in bathing. Is it because she's a child? Maybe it's a matter of enculturation – human's and those raised by humans are taught to be modest with their bodies while youkai and those raised by youkai are taught to disregard nudity._ Cultural differences? This is a case of culture shock_, she thought indignantly.

She threw up her hands and started walking in the direction that Sesshomaru had just come from. "Okay, Unstoppable Force. Immovable Object is getting this show on the road."

She led the way for several minutes before she remembered she didn't know where she was going. She paused to let the imp take the lead, hanging her head in embarrassment as he hobbled by.

She felt a sudden pang of pity for him. And she felt sorry that she felt sorry for him. His little body was nothing like his normal physique and it most really irritate him to be so slow. _Oh and he can't fly without youki_! She reasoned suddenly.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

So she followed him. For three days she followed him. Mostly she kept silent, but occasionally she would have a one sided conversation with the waddling figure. She was careful not to talk about her time or refer to Inuyasha in another way than a player in a story she was telling. She didn't want to give away any weakness or betray her friend's confidence. They were able to walk all day because the pace he was able to keep was slow, even for a human, but he did not seem to tire so they walked from sun up to when the sunlight faded so Kagome could not see to walk. Since Sesshomaru claimed not to need sleep ("currently", whatever that meant) he kept watch at night. Kagome insisted that he stay near her so that she could be woken and defend against any intruder with her bow and arrow. In this way, and a dozen similar instances, they learned to compromise and negotiate their peaceful coexistence.

Only once did a lesser youkai show up to attack them. Kagome shot it without any fuss. However, she did notice that the demon lord became very stiff and cold after the incident. Kagome figured his pride was eating dirt as it was so she didn't mention the attack or his mood change. She tried to think of something she could do to improve his mood, make him feel better, anything to help. Then she remembered her mother's advice and left him to his bad mood. Eventually she began rambling about something completely random, retelling a story she had had to read for her Japanese literature class, so that she would let it go, too. Her mother was right – men were brooders and women were fixers. It lead to many conflicts in a variety of relationships. Sometimes there was nothing a woman could do for a man and she should just let him brood. This was one of those times. Let's here it for peaceful coexistence!

She spent the days observing him as much as he observed her. She watched him try to secretively watch her. It might have worked better in his original body, with those small, almond shaped eyes, as it was those huge, bulbous eyes, that sat atop his head gave every glance away. That was what she had giggled at as she was falling asleep the first night with him. He had tried to look at her out of the corner of his eye, but with those eyes there were no corners. He just looked strange with his head turned away but his eyes obviously on her.

For her part she watched the body language and listened to the tones of his infrequent utterances and more frequent grunts. She assumed this use grunts was a basic inu trait since Inuyasha used a variety of non-words to communicate so frequently. She used her knowledge of Inuyasha as a starting point and went from there. She would never say it to either brother but they were shockingly similar. The borrowed body made observing the body language easier. He did things out of habit, without even thinking about it, but in the diminutive form the movements didn't come out right, little things became big movements, lack of proper part (like eyebrows and forehead) distorted and exaggerated once subtle expressions. She had formed a good basis for his communication system with the help of his unfortunate condition and she assumed they would follow him back to his larger body, just regaining their almost hidden nature.

It was on their fifth day together, around midday when she decided it was time to get some more information from him. She had let it go because she had figured it would be a decent length trip and she could get details as she traveled but so far he had shared very little. She knew the circumstances around the incident that left him this way but that was it – and it was not enough.

"Lord Sesshomaru, what more could you tell me about your situation?" She asked offhandedly as they crested a hill and paused to look down the path that led down into a wide-open meadow.

He was standing next to her and looked up at her. She was looking at the flowers as if her question was unimportant but she had been exuding tension all morning and he, and every creature for the past several kilometers, knew that she was building up her courage to ask him her question.

She couldn't keep her poker face on, she looked down at the little creature beside her to with pleading in her eyes. She was surprised when she saw his mouth open to reply to her. She hadn't thought it would be that easy. Then her surprised doubles as his mouth hung open and he tottered back and forth. He started turning his head back and forth but that only seemed to disorientate him more and he fell to his knees.

"Lord Sesshomaru, what's wrong? What's happening?" She knelt beside him but did not dare to touch him. "What's –"

He croaked out, "Same. Dizzy." He fell completely to the ground unconscious.

She was confused. As with many a case of panic she began searching fervently around for the answer she was looking for to magically appear in front of her.

For once it did. And it even greeted her. "Kagome. I should have known he would have recruited you into this little odyssey of his."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sesshomaru opened his eyes and began to survey his surroundings. He was limited in his movements and mental processing due to an immense pain pulsating through his skull. He decided to take it one step at a time. First, he opened his eyes and saw he was in a run down shack decorated with a plethora of cobwebs and broken dishes_. Hn._

Then, he drew a deep breath in through his nose, well, beak. The girl scent seemed to surround him, so she must have spent some time in the building with him but she was not there currently. Any other human inhabitants of the domicile had abandoned it to entropy years ago_. I suppose she is how I got here. _

Next, he closed his eyes and listened, focusing everything he could into his still limited hearing. The hut was in a woods and the girl was just outside the door – scratching on something. _What __**is**__ she doing?_

Moving on, he felt his body. Other than his head he seemed to be unharmed. His fingers felt a slippery material under him. He rubbed it between his fingers without moving his head and realized that it was the girls bedroll. _No wonder all I can smell is her. _

Finally, he tried to get up but between the slippery surface, the borrowed body, the pounding headache and the leftover magic voo he ended up falling, rolling and landing head down in the little entry way used to take off dirty footwear before entering the house proper, his body propped up against the step up, leaving him stuck upside down.

The thatch hanging that served as a door was jerked to the side and a startled young miko popped her head in to check out the commotion. She smiled down at him, practically seeing the stars spinning about his head. She did not come to his aid instantly, instead she bent sideways at the waist, tilting her head so that at least her face had the same orientation as his – upside down.

One eyebrow up, one eyebrow down with one corner of her mouth turned up slightly. She was sarcastically asking him what he was doing.

He answered with brows drawn together, but not really down, and a tightened the muscles around his nose and upper mouth. _Don't just stand there, you idiot._

She raised both eyebrows high and turned her head slightly back and down with a fake startled look: _What, you want __**me **__(who is inferior) to help __**you**__ (who never needs anyone else)? _

_Why you…_ He said with narrowed eyes.

Big round, innocent eyes looked back at him. _Who me?_

An ever so slight quirk of the top of his left upper lip, though it looked ridiculous with his current face, was the minor form of a snarl. _You're starting to piss me off…_

_Okay, fine. _She shrugged. A tiny scowl with her shoulder back as she approach said, _Just remember you asked. _

The exchange had taken thirty seconds at best but his head swam as his blood redistributed itself again when she grab him under the arms and lift him upright. She stood there for an awkward moment, holding him out at arm's length. She considered him with one brow drawn down as if in scowl while the other one "s"-ed up in question, her bottom lip pulled up tight in debate and the upper one quirked in the a micro snarl of displeasure. _What should I do now? The only options I have are not good ones and you are __not__ going to like them._

Then her face cleared and she jerked her shoulders in a little shrug of inevitable resignation and pulled the little imp in to her body and set him on her hip, under her arm, with his stubby little legs on either side of her waist. He stiffened and glared into her face that was almost level with his in their current position. _I do NOT like this. You will put me down at once._

_I told you you wouldn't like it, _she responded with look of indifference and a shrug as she bounced him on her hip to get him into a better position.

He attempted a growl but his current throat was not meant for such sounds and it ended up sounding like a fart, a juicy one at that. He could feel her abdomen shake with silent laughter as she carried him over to the sleeping bag. He thought about trying to get away from the wretched woman but his head was still not cooperating. Her hand slipped down to hold him about the waist and then she bent at the waist, arching so that the hip he was sitting on maintained some elevation, as the rest of her dipped to fix the slippery sleeping roll. He swayed from side to side trying to maintain his balance as he was jiggled about while she used her one free arm to straighten the blanket. Then he was practically whirling through the air as she plucked him from his impromptu perch and distributed him onto the sleeping bag. She carefully laid him on his back and lightly touch his forehead.

He glared at her with such fury in his eye that she snapped her hand back and tucked it between her thighs, as if hiding the offending appendage might save it from his wrath. He continued to glare at her. After a moment he took a deep breath, relaxed his face and closed his eyes. He opened them for a moment to scowl at her and closed them again_. I will kill you for this humiliation, you stupid, insignificant wretch. Well, I should kill you but I will not. I'm too tired to right now. But don't forget that I can and I will, if I choose to._

He awoke again hours later. The hut was better lit and warmer than it had been earlier meaning that the girl had made a fire. His headache was gone and his thoughts were once again clear. He reasoned that something or someone having to do with his cursed state had knocked him out again; the girl had remained conscious and brought him to this place. He recalled their earlier interaction.

_Interaction, pah, it was a conversation by any inuyoukai standards. That tricky little minx picked up on inu communication._ Sesshomaru considered this turn of events. She had always been easy for him to read with her expressive personality and body language, but she was human and always had to add words to it. Somehow she had overcome her own species communication standards and cracked into his. _I will have to watch her. She is sharper than I gave her credit for. _

She sensed that he had woken up and walked over to where he lay carrying a cup of tea. He let a little smirk slip. He liked tea. He appreciated the scent and flavor, and the peace seemed to come and grow with each sip.

She saw the approval and kneeled down beside him as he sat up. She set the cup down next to the sleeping bag and waited. He took stock once again after he was upright. Everything seemed to be working as well as it had since he acquired it – far subpar for his usual but there was little he could do about that.

He reached down and took the cup. He sniffed it. Without looking up he flicked his head toward the fire dismissing her for the moment. She smiled and returned to her spot by the fire. She picked up the bound sheets of paper she had called it a notebook, that she had set down when she got his tea and returned to her reading.

Sesshomaru was left to his tea and contemplation. He was relieved that she continued to communicate with him without words. He disliked using them, they took so much time to convey and so many people used them deceitfully. He was a direct individual and responded best to other who were also direct. This girl was proving to be much easier to adjust to than he would have thought. He turned to regard her and it dawned on him, he was wrong. He had not adjusted to her, she had adjusted to him. There were a few issues that ended in compromise between the two of them , but for the most part she had observed and modified her own behavior to conform with his nature.

_Now, I am humbled. And by a human woman no less. This woman is a source of emotional revolution for me. And I do not think I like that… But why does it not bother me more? _He heaved a sigh as he finished off his tea and got up to move beside the seated girl. He noticed her face was as beautiful as a painting in that moment with the warm glow of the fire highlighting her features. He shook his head to clear away the bizarre thoughts as he sat down. He reasoned that these thoughts and emotions must be another effect of the curse/spell. It is another clue in a puzzle that has precious few. And its nothing to worry about since it will end when the curse does so he dismissed it from his mind. His enemy was simply trying to unnerve him by making everything he wasn't. He smiled wickedly as he settled into a comfortable position. _I will kill them slowly when I get my claws on them. Very slowly._

They sat in silence for several minutes. She sat with her body turned slightly towards him letting him know that she was attuned to his presence even if she was still looking at the pages. Finally, he engaged her full attention with a hesitant, "Hm." It was a sound of request, not demand, and the girl looked at him in slight surprise. He inclined his chin down, keeping eye contact with her, head tipping ever so slightly downward. _Thank you for what you did for me_.

She blinked her eyes several times, blushed and looked down for a few seconds before raising it again. _Oh, my, um…you're welcome. I am at your service._

_Good. That is done. _He nodded acknowledging that their positions had been returned to their proper relationship and indicating that he was taking charge once leaned his upper body forward and looked intently at her, _Now tell me. _

She paused a moment to think and leaned back. _Well, then, let me think about this_. She cocked her head to the side and him up and down. _You want to know what I know, but will I tell you?_ "Hnn," she snorted dismissively. _You don't deserve it._ "Mm-m" she hummed in a low pitch and ended with almost a snort. _You definitely don't deserve it but I'm going to tell you any way, you ungrateful oaf._

He snapped his head to the side and eyed her like a bug, or a misbehaving little girl. She understood the warning: _Talk now before I get angry_.

"Fine, but I'm not good enough at this to do it without words." She turned her hands up as if there was no helping it. She sighed as she turned her whole body to face him. "I don't everything but here's what I do know. "We had stopped at the top of that hill and you passed out." Her expressions and gestures became exaggerated as she talked and he had to remember that her overt movements weren't meant to be loud and abrasive as they would have translated in inu body language, it was just her reverting to her own speech. "Then out of nowhere, and I mean that literally. No one was there and suddenly poof," she illustrated with her hands, fingers slaying outwards as she talked, "Kikyo was standing there looking like the cat with cream."

He couldn't resist the urge to growl when the identity of his tormentor was revealed.

***Author's Notes***

I do NOT hate Kikyo, you'll have to keep reading to understand her role in this adventure. And just to entice you a little more, Kikyo is not the end of this riddle; she's just the beginning of it.

Haltia, thank you so much for the detailed review! What did you think of the fruits of her observations? I have to tell you, it was so much fun to write.

Clara 954, thanks for all the comments, you're very diligent and I appreciate it!

Carielle Hale: Wow, a positive review all in caps – thanks.


	11. Chapter 11

Because communication is getting more complicated: _**things communicated through body language and understood by the other**_; _thoughts to oneself; _ "normal conversation".

Chapter 11

"Fine, but I'm not good enough at this to do it without words." She didn't mind the new form of communication. In fact it was like playing a game. It was fun and he actually played along. But it was still fairly new to her and when passing on information like this she couldn't figure out how to do it without real words. _Youkai had to need words too, otherwise what was the point of their humanoid forms_, she reasoned. So she continued reverting to her native form of communication, vibrantly expressive, somewhat disjointed narratives. "I don't everything but here's what I do know. We had stopped at the top of that hill and you passed out. Then out of nowhere, and I mean that literally. No one was there and suddenly *poof* Kikyo was standing there looking like the cat who ate the cream."

She paused when she heard Sesshomaru rip a big, wet fart. _What the hell! Oh, yeah, that's supposed to be a growl. _She cleared her throat to cover up the laugh, but she saw he wasn't buying it so she continued on with her unbelievable tale.

"As I was saying, Kikyo showed up all of a sudden. She made some cryptic remark about you dragging my into your mess," Her eyebrows flicked up and she tilted her head to the side and gave it an imperceptible nod and pursed her lips, adding a silent, _**Which is what happened, not that I'm actually going to say that. But that's neither here nor there**__, _she dismissed with a tiny wave. "She is not exactly a Chatty Cathy, " she said with a stare directed at him that communicated, _**like someone else I know**_, "so she just kind of stared at you for a while, then turned and started to walk away. I didn't know what else to do so I…um… picked you up and followed her." She looked at him with her upturned hands expressing her lack of options at the time and seeking understanding and pardon with the slump of her shoulders and pleading in her eyes.

_**Just continue**_, he said with a quick jerk of his head and the corners of his mouth turned down.

"She led me here, its not very far from where we were, I wonder how she knew it was here. Anyway, she waited outside while I laid you out. She was sitting right next to the door and I suggested that we move away to not…disturb you, but she said it wouldn't matter. " She looked a question at him, _**Why did she say that**__? _

Kagome watched the little imp tense and not move a muscle, she knew that meant he wasn't going to answer. Then she realized that she had asked him a question and was waiting for an answer, which she got in the form of an I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it, but to realize that she was actually combining the two forms of communication into one shocked her. _Compromise, huh? Well, I guess she was right…_

Speaking of which, her pause for revelation had Sesshomaru staring at her. He was waiting on her, giving her space to think without demanding the information from her. _Uh-oh, I never thought having someone treat me civilly would worry me so very much…_

Kagome, once again, focusing on her tale, cleared her throat and started again. "When I sat down she said a little rhyme. 'Poor little puppy who lost his tail, running in circles to no avail. Look to the left, look to the right; look both ways and see it you might.' I had no idea what she was talking about and said so. She got this intense look in her eyes like she was trying to see into my soul, which is really strange all things considered. Finally she seemed to come to a conclusion and she told me what was going on, well, more or less."

Kagome picked up her notebook and flipped it open and tilted so she could read it in the firelight. "I wrote as much down as possible so I wouldn't forget. Okay, let's see here. You have been hocus pocus-ed by several 'powerful beings'." She said 'powerful beings' and an overly dramatic deep voice, forgetting in her study of her notes her audience. " Some fairly powerful god decided that you needed some lessons and gathered these 'powerful beings' to each take something away from you. And before you ask, she would not say who else there was or even how many, just 'several powerful beings', cryptic little… Anyway, You gain these 'stolen things' back by 'learning new tricks'. Kikyo said she stole your tail. She really seemed to enjoy the dog metaphors." Kagome snickered and looked up quick when she remembered her audience this time. He just rolled his eyes in exasperation at her.

She hesitated at this point unsure how the conversation was going to go from this point, "Um, apparently Kikyo stole your tail and you had to learn to … compromise. That's where I come in, I guess. In order to live in close proximity to another person, being, well… with me you had to adjust and … she said… accept me enough to value me as an individual and see a reason to make adjustments."

By this point she was whispering and looking at the page, desperate to hide her face while she felt her heart and mind swirl around in hopeless turmoil. She was torn between fear of his denial of this consideration, devaluing her and her existence, and the fear of unforeseen complications that might arise if he admitted to having adjusted out of respect for her as a person. The denial would hurt, especially since she felt that she had gone out of her way to accommodate this difficult youkai.

However, it would be worse if she did have value in his eyes. She did not want to be valuable to Sesshomaru, even as a simple traveling companion. She knew that there were animal instinct in youkai that made even simple relationships complicated. She was already in over her eyeballs with Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kouga, et al.; she really did NOT want to even get her toes wet with the unfathomable depths that she just knew Sesshomaru hid.

_I am his companion on this trip to regain himself. _ Kagome repeated in her mind the resolve that she had written on a page at the back of her notebook and signed as a promise and reminder to herself. It stated her purpose, her role, her commitment and her limitations._ I am just an instrument chosen be fate – AGAIN – to help. I will do my best to accomplish the goal, whatever the heck that might be, but I will not become emotionally involved. I am a stone, hopefully a useful stone, but that is it._

Sesshomaru had sat watching her; she could still feel his eyes intent on her on her, waiting for her to speak. She could be businesslike. His opinion of her value did not matter beyond what was needed to get her back to her friends. She set her shoulders but all emotion aside and continued without checking his face.

"I am a stone," she mumbled to herself before continuing on in a stronger voice. "I asked her what she meant by your tail, I thought she might be talking about that fluffy thing," she looked at the sketch she had drawn while she had contemplated Kikyo's words while she waited for the imp to wake up. She was surprised at how detailed the sketch was making her wonder, _when did I take such notice of him?_ She picked up the mechanical pencil that she had set down beside her and absently started going over the arrows and question marks that pointed to the fluffy thing on the sketch's shoulder as she talked. "But she said that that wasn't what she had meant…" She looked up at him with a question in her eye and tilt of her head she asked, **Do you know what she's meant**?

_**No**_.

_**You're not holding out on me, are you?**_ She eyed him suspiciously.

_**Was there more information?**_ He signaled with slight wave of the hand.

"She said, 'It's a dog's tail, the part of him the expresses emotions even if he tries to hid them. Does that make it clearer?"

_**Yes. **_He gave a short nod and oddly looked away from her. It was an aversion, but it also held a hint of, dare she think, discomfort, or maybe even embarrassment.

"Care to share with me?"

She watched his face freeze. He was obviously considering his options and he did not want to share any of his thoughts. For a moment her heart ached. She thought that he was going to keep her in the dark, confirming his long standing thought of her, she was not worth his consideration.

Then his eyes slid towards her, considering her again with some unknown emotion. He let out a sigh that made no noise, but with such a strange little body the movement of the chest was exaggerated and made the sigh seem huge. He had decided to share with her; she felt relief for a second before she remembered that she did not want his confidence. She was supposed to be a stone, but it was not coming easily to her. _Stone, stone, stone, stone_, she chanted in her mind.

She listened with very confused feelings as he reluctantly answered, "She has sealed my beast."

An hour later she lay down in her sleeping bag to get a few hours of sleep before they would head off once again towards the Sesshomaru's home.

So many mysteries and so many things she did not understand. Even the things explained to her did not make a whole lot of sense. As she drifted off she wondered over Kikyo's parting words, words that had given her a strange feeling causing her had kept them to herself. "I wonder, when he regains his tail will it wag in happiness or stick straight out in threat?" Kagome did not know the answer to that and she did not think that she wanted to find out either way.

She felt her stomach in knots of worry and confusion as she fell asleep, guaranteeing a horrible night's sleep.

Somewhere not so far away from the sleeping miko, the one who shared her soul felt her turmoil. _Poor Kagome, you not made of stone, you are made of much more nurturing elements that's nowhere near as immutable as stone. Ah, but to change the flow of a river or stop the sun from shinning – how much more effort does that take than to crack a stone._

"How goes it?" A deep voice said out of nowhere.

"It goes well, Kami-sama, though you choose an interesting pair as your next pet project." She said without turning since there was no physical body there to see at the moment to talk to. "By the way, she does not realize that she is 'learning new tricks', too."

"Good, lets leave it that way. She's more stubborn than that damn dog. She'd be completely impossible if she knew."

Kikyo felt the tingle that the god's presence always gave her dissipate. _No, you're not as hard as stone, my soul sister, you are much stronger than that._

******************************Author's Note**********************************

Sorry this took me a while to get this chapter out, I was trying to figure out the direction for the rest of the story and it had to share brain space while I studied for my finals for my TESOL grad classes. Then today I was the speaker at commencement and walked for my BA in Japanese. On top of all, my grandfather passed away yesterday so that I am leaving Tuesday to go back to Western NY for his funeral. So unfortunately I won't be updating for about a week or so, but now that I know the rest of the flow for the story it should go fairly quickly once I get back. Thanks again for your continued encouragement and comments.


	12. Chapter 12

Frog Prince: Chapter 12

Sesshomaru shook the miko's shoulder with all his might, which was not all things considered, trying to wake her. He had noticed that this woman did not respond well to waking before she was ready, but there was no time, she needed to get up immediately. She swiped a hand over her shoulder at him and curled into a tight ball with a grumble. He looked around for a moment considering and saw his solution sitting next to the embers from the previous nights fire – the water that the girl had fetched to have on hand to make her morning tea.

The girl was up and out of her strange bedroll and standing several feet away with an arrow drawn before the last chilly drop of water fell on the bundle of clothes she had used as a pillow that her head had just been resting on. For a fraction of a second the arrow was pointed at the little imp who still held the empty pot then moved on the sweep the clearing and surrounding trees, looking for the source of trouble. Then she heard it, far off in the distance, a sound she had so frequently welcomed now tied her stomach into an instant knot.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha.

"Oh crap! I thought I had at least another few days before he caught up with me, us. Crappy crap crap!" She whispered fiercely. She took in the clearing and the diminutive daiyoukai and the impending doom. She hit her knees and begin packing with the speed and efficiency of hundreds of repetitions.

Sesshomaru watched as she bent like long sapling in a storm, bending this way and that, reaching to grab an item just out of reach then snapping upright to shove it into the pack. She was quick, quiet and efficient. Sesshomaru considered her quick reaction with approval. Inuyoukai instincts when a pack member was missing were quite spectacular and often extremely violent, even a hanyou will be hard to handle._ And unfortunately impossible as I am. Besides, nothing has been accomplished yet so I cannot return her to her pack. _

He paused for a second. Something in that last statement was odd. It was a little off. Not the whole truth, but what was false? He silently cursed the resurrected miko for sealing away his beast. Not only was he robbed of his physical appearance and attributes, but she had to go and steal half of his soul. He could not even discern his own thoughts when he was missing the core of his being. _Curse her. I will rip her apart with great joy when I am restored. I will cut her and…she will bleed… and… _But without his beast even his anger was lacking its usual creative killing intent. _CURSE THAT EVIL UNDEAD FILTHY MIKO!_

The miko present in the clearing suddenly turned around as she closed the last catch on her pack. She raised a brow at him and cocked her head ever so slightly to the side so her ear was towards the imp. **Do you hear yourself?**

He abruptly stopped making the farting sound that his current body made instead of his usual blood-stopping growl. He was uncharacteristically frustrated after his long night of contemplation which had yielded not fruit, the impending arrival of the biggest pain in the butt in his life, the extreme emptiness that comes with missing half of his being and the general idiocy of his situation that he turned his back on the annoying woman and smashed the pot that he still had in his hand on the rock it had spent the night perched on by the fire pit. It made him feel better so he did it again, and a third felt much better; enough that the edge of his mouth curled up a bit as he turned to hand the human back her once-was-a-pot-now-a-demented-frying-pan back.

He was so pleased with this juvenile stress reliever that he was caught completely unaware when the impudent wench smack him in the head sticking a piece of paper to it that burned his skin slightly, grab him like a sack, tuck him under her arm and took off through the woods at a human-speed run.

He was outraged and back to the pre-pot smashing mood of desiring the desire to maim and destroy. He twisted in her arms in an attempt to get away from her but she held him tighter and ran faster.

"Be still, damn it! He is going to be here in a second thanks to that racket you were making, not that I'm blaming you, but really it was ill timed to say the least. Hopefully it will take him a minute to figure out what's going on since I used some of Miroku's sutras to get rid of our scents, but I think even I could follow the trail that I'm leaving behind. Please, underst- OOF!"

They were suddenly falling backwards and landed with a resounding thud. Sesshomaru's head had hit something extremely hard with enough force that his frustratingly inferior ears were ringing. The girl fell all the way to the ground as her hands went to cover her nose that seemed to be leaking blood down her face. He took the chance to escape from her grasp.

He looked up expecting to find the tree that he was sure the stupid human had run head long into, instead he found a very disturbing sight – an angrily hissing twin headed dragon. At first he felt a pang of relief, but it was quickly replaced with his own anger and more than a touch of worry – Ah-Un did not recognize him and were not in a good mood. Sesshomaru knew what the dragon could do if it decided to attack – it was a creature that had earned his respect and right to travel with him, it had extreme destructive capabilities.

Thankfully for the two damaged companions, the dragon had two heads and two minds, frequently that had different opinions. In this instance Ah was mad (his master was missing and he had just been assaulted) but Un seemed to recognize the girl and remembered that Rin liked her, but was hesitant because it was his master's somewhat, sometime enemy's female. However, they had been compromising for years and quickly came forward with a hiss, Ah ready to attack, Un to get a better look at the strange human. While their communication tended to be simple but the glare and sharp nod of each head clearly said, **Stay where you are and no funny business or we **_**will**_** fry you**.

Sesshomaru took a step back while he considered his options. He did not step between the dragon and the girl as Un's interest in her was what had probably saved them, but he did not move away from her either. He could still hear the hanyou coming closer, and at that moment the cries of the girl's name seemed to get louder and more desperate. _He must have found the empty clearing and the lack of scent… How to get out of this?_

He was saved from choosing an appropriate action by the girl's inappropriate ones. She sat bolt upright, taking in the twin-headed dragon and promptly launching herself at the hissing, startled heads. He was sure that she would be dead in seconds and his hopes of regaining himself with her.

However, the miko was a creature of great compassion and energy. As she clutched the dragons, one arm around each neck (she really had launched herself, for her legs were actually dangling off the ground), a wave of relieved, happy energy of recognition poured off of her and into everyone in a several meter radius. The startled dragons stopped hissing, Ah sniffed at her hair in question while Un nuzzled her ear.

Just then Inuyasha voice sounded quite close and very angry. "Sesshomaru, you bastard! Even if you can hide your scent you can't hide that stupid mount's reek. Give Kagome back." He would be there in seconds.

Kagome entire body stiffened and just as a moment before her emotions waved off of her and into all those around her. She was afraid. She did not want to be found by him. Ah-Un agreed on their course of action. _Affectionate girl = like = protect._

Both mouths opened in the direction of the noise and twin beams of energy erupted from them disintegrating dozens of trees. In a fraction of a second, even before the ash of the decimated trees had fallen to the ground, Un had grabbed the girl by they pack and swung her around onto their back while Ah kept an eye out. Before she was even settled they began to levitate into the air.

Sesshomaru watched in stunned amazement. Ah-Un had always been particular but this behavior was astonishing. They instantly bonded with the girl and accepted her as theirs to protect. However, she was also Sesshomaru's traveling companion and asset in his quest, her being taken away by his dragons, while keeping her out of Inuyasha's hands, would also mean removing her from where she would be useful to him. He could not allow that but there was little he could do little about it either. Still he was desperate not to loose her. So he ran towards the flying mount and jumped as high as he could to try and grab a hold of her leg.

He tried again, his last attempt before it would be pointless. "Human!" He fell to the ground again, loosing his footing and falling down on his rump.

The girl who was clinging desperately to the dragon nearly 4 meters in the air swung her head towards him with wide eyes and he saw her panic as it hit her that she was leaving without him. He was watching her face closely, so he saw that she threw herself off the dragon's back without thought or consideration of consequences, in an attempt to get to him.

At that moment chaos broke out. Inuyasha broke through the trees with his transformed sword out and ready to swing, the woman was falling straight at Sesshomaru and he had no way of stopping or catching her, Un was trying to dive to catch the girl and Ah was trying to stay upright to defend from the irate hanyou brandishing the very big sword.

Inuyasha was frozen in mid-swing as his brain processed his friend's proximity to his target. He quickly made the instantaneous switch to panic (_Again! How does this girl manage to get herself into these situations – ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME?_) as he took in her head first decent towards the ground. "Kagome!" he shouted as he dashed forward to catch her, knowing the he would never make it in time.

Teamwork was Ah-Un's specialty so while Un pulled them sideways as he closed his mouth around the girl's right foot. Ah allowed the movement and adjusted appropriately for the tug that the sudden weight and force of stop from the girl caused. This meant that as soon as the hanyou made his sudden leap towards them he fired another massive energy blast.

Teamwork was something that was starting to come to Sesshomaru and Kagome. As she fell headfirst she saw the doubt and reprimand instantly in Sesshomaru, **What are you doing, idiot! **

She just reached out her arms towards him. Both were slightly shocked when his stubby little arms reached back in response. Sesshomaru noticed her features wince as she seemed to stretch to her maximum length, just barely far enough to grab his left hand. Suddenly her whole body jerked and he was airborne dangling by his arm, with her clothing falling around him as the pack top popped open. _Oh, if I survive this humiliation someone is going to die a long, painful death for it._

They continued to float up through the canopy; Sesshomaru knew that once they were clear of the trees the dragons could show their true speed. When the spill of clothing ceased he looked up at the girl. She was smiling so brightly down at him that for a moment even his cold heart was warmed. _I should try to remember to kill someone other than her_, was the best he could do to interpret his feelings.

_**They**__ might be fair game, though_, he thought as he looked past her inverted body to the flying two-tailed cat and her two riders. The humans were looking on with confused but bemused expressions, but he noted their lack of aggression or action towards reclaiming their lost friend. They seemed to be waiting.

The girl noticed the strange change in imp's face and was twisting to see what had earned the death glare. The movement however was too much for Un without him biting her tender flesh harder and so he used the momentum of her wiggle to toss her up in the air (and subsequently Sesshomaru) and urged Ah to maneuver with him to dive under the falling human and catch her, which they did with a grunt escaping from both themselves as she landed heavily on their back and from the human as her stomach hit hard across the creature's back.

Sesshomaru had never in his life been nauseous like he was at that particular reason. _I will not humiliate myself by throwing up. I will not humiliate myself by throwing up. I will… _

Inuyasha choose that moment to erupt from the tree cover. That one had demonstrated some definite aggression and the woman on their back, whom they had decided to protect, still cringed at his appearance. Ah-Un wasted no time in taking off.

The fire cat could keep pace for a short amount of time, and it did, leaving the hanyou desperately trying to keep up as he leapt from treetop to treetop, but he quickly fell behind. Ah kept an eye on the cat but it kept a respectable distance and remained nonaggressive so he left it alone.

The monk seemed to have been waiting for the absence of the hanyou to finally ask his question, "Kagome, is the thing that you are doing something for Sesshomaru? Are you okay with Jaken and Ah-Un?"

Sesshomaru noticed that the girl seemed to hear all the questions that were not-so-hidden in the seemingly innocent questions; Is this what you told me about? Do you still want to be doing it? Did you know Sesshomaru was involved? Is it worth it? Are you safe? Do you need to be rescued? She coughed and croaked out, "Yeah, its for Sesshomaru, that's why I couldn't really tell Inuyasha. You know how he is, especially about his brother."

"Are you sure you're alright?" He called loudly for confirmation, past the wind and the increasing distance between the flying creatures.

"Don't worry, guys, I'm with Sesshomaru, I'll be fine." She yelled back. To the dragon she whispered, "If you guys can go any faster now would be the time."

Sesshomaru, knowing just how fast the mount could go, clutched her hand with both of his from where he still hung from the side of the dragon. The girl looked from her friends down to the imp squeezing her hand and realized what his grip meant. As the mount snorted and took a deep breath she quickly twisted on its back and wrapped her arm around Ah's neck, with her arm between the heads. It was all she had time for before the dragons sped off towards the west. The girl squeaked as the muscular necks pressed together to hold onto her arm.

_Oh the humiliation_, Sesshomaru thought as he bumped against the dragon's side.

Once the fire cat was long gone from sight she began asking the dragon to let her rearrange herself. She felt like she was going to fall off. She had managed to lift Sesshomaru's little body onto the mounts rump to her side but she was still stuck across its back like a sack of rice. It never listened to her, no matter what she said.

An hour later she felt her arm released. Her body was limp from fatigue and overspent emotions and she just slid from the creatures back. She hit the ground and barely managed to get the pack off before she fell asleep to the sound of the dragons hissing and clacking. Her last thought before sleep overtook her was, _I wonder what has them in such a tizzy?_


	13. Chapter 13 LONG

Frog Prince: Chapter 13

Kagome moaned as she rolled over and curled into her customary "I don't want to wake up" ball. She smiled and giggled as Shippo nuzzled into her hair. She would wake up for her adopted kit's affections a whole lot happier than the belligerent screams of a tyrannical hanyou.

She rolled back towards the little kitsune and reached out to give him a hug and encountered a different shape than she had expected. Her eyes flew open and locked with pale green, cat-slit eyes. The head that had been nuzzling her pulled back so that the other matching one could come forward to inspect her as well. Then they started making strange clicking sounds, back and forth and seemingly towards her. Though she did not understand the clicks and twitters (a dragon tweets, huh), but she did understand concern, even in animals, they were like gumbo Buyo.

_Oh, yeah._ Her head throbbed as it remembered the strange encounter with the two-headed dragon and her friends. _Running from my friends towards my enemies, well, kind of enemies. My life is TOO weird some days!_

_Sesshomaru! Where?_ She looked around and finally spotted him over her shoulder. When their eyes met her face lit up for all the world like the sun cresting over the edge of the world in a breathtaking dawn, **Oh, thank the gods that you are here!**

"Hn."

She was unconcerned with his lack of reaction, however, she did noted that his lack of readable reaction was now somewhat unusual. She tucked it away to be considered later. First, she had her rescuers to thank and reassure.

"You guys are the best. Don't worry, I'm fine," she stated as she turned back to the pair of heads, standing with her arms outstretched to demonstrate her health. The twins took this as an invitation to inspect her and did so. Ah, on the right, was much more physical in his inspection, sniffing along her neck and under her hair tickling as it went. Un, on the left, stuck to a more visual inspection, looking her up and down, front and back, clicking occasionally when he saw something he felt he needed to comment on.

She felt strangely peaceful and safe with these monstrous creatures invading her personal space. She wondered why they weren't scarier. They had always seemed intimidating to her before, but now she felt like they were intelligent, gentle friends. Said friends seemed to feel the same way and were displaying some strangely protective behavior. Once they were satisfied with their inspection they corralled her into the protective space between their forelegs as they sat down with a head over each of her shoulders.

Once she was situated as they wanted her they turned their eyes towards the imp. She also looked at him. He was standing just outside the small cave that they occupied. She hadn't really noticed her surroundings; it was a small cave with a thick, golden, spongy moss covering the ground that was surprisingly soft and dry. She also noticed that there was a distinct inside/outside with Sesshomaru on the outside.

**What are you doing over there? **She asked with her brows drawn down and a quick look around and back to him.

**They won't let me in. **He replied with a pointed look over her shoulder and a more than slight frown.

**Them? **She asked with a raised brow as she looked up at both heads that were still glaring at their master. She looked back at him with her head cocked to the side. **Why for?**

His little chest heaved in a sigh at needing to revert to words, "Territory, theirs. Tell them to let me in."

"He's okay guys, you can let him in. He's actually Sesshomaru, you know, your owner, master – what exactly are you to these guys?"

He looked at her with exasperation, **You are not getting it**.

Kagome looked up at the heads that had not moved or ceased their glaring despite her words of reassurance. "Guys, he's okay." She tried to stand to walk over to him to demonstrate her acceptance of imp but both heads lowered so that they were exerting pressure on her shoulders. She struggled a little, trying to get away and they pressed harder and Un hissed an apparent reprimand, though neither took their eyes off the imp on their threshold.

**Um…What do I do? **She asked with a pleading look and a glance between the dragon and the imp.

"Talk to them with your beast, not your mouth." He looked at her as if she were being dense on purpose, just to frustrate him. **This is not that difficult to understand**.

"Okay, mister, don't look at me like I'm an idiot." She was angry. She was trying very hard to understand what he was saying but he was talking nonsense. It wasn't her fault he was being ridiculous. The dragons heard her tone and stood and started hissing at the imp. (They did not like the one that their master kept around, they were NOT about to tolerate and unknown one that angered _affectionate girl_.) Kagome could see that that was not an improvement so she stood and treated the beast like you would a temperamental horse, with soft cooing sounds and gentle pats and strokes. It took her several minutes but they finally calmed down. _Okay, crisis overted. Now to deal with the source of the crisis – pint-sized arrogance packed with crunchy distain and a swirl of superiority…_

"Now, tell me again what you said because I was sure that you said something about my beast and I know that I don't have one of those. So let's try something I can do?" She asked, trying to stay calm and reasonable.

Sesshomaru considered her for a moment. "You do have one, your miko power."

She stared at him incredulously. **Are you out of your mind? **At his glare she remembered with whom she was talking and that the things said with ones body were just as valid as those said with one's mouth. She bowed her head quickly in apology and returned to contemplating his words and expression again. He didn't seem to be pulling her leg. "Umm…? I don't get it."

"Think, girl, how do your miko powers feel, act?"

_Holy crap, I think he's serious! _She stared at him for a moment more while she considered her response. _Well, damn. Okay, miko powers…_

She slowed her breathing and calmed her mind. Meditation was the one thing that she had learned from studying with Kaede, the only thing that she had mastered, none of her other lessons worked. She figured she was just a failure as a miko. Her powers never worked how Kaede described miko powers. Her power was not controllable or malleable in the way Kaede described hers, there was no subjecting them to be used as a "tool" the way Kaede did with hers. Simply attempting to do so caused extreme fatigue from the struggle with little to no results. Her miko powers were strong and frequently seemed almost separate from her, with a will of its own, one that liked subjection even less than Inuyasha. When she needed to use them she simply gave herself over to her powers, letting the instinct and energy keep her and her friends alive. _Struggle…Separate_… _Instinct…_She felt the tingle of revelation and followed the thought.

_How do my powers act? _

It was always within her but did not like to be controlled. It was like a struggle when she tried to, a battle of wills. But who had a will as strong as her? She had never before met anyone as strong willed as her – Inuyasha gave her a bit of a challenge at first but she won out and maintained the upper hand. Only she was that stubborn. Her powers acted like her but separate because they had control over what she didn't – the mystical powers of a priestess and a more basic part of her brain – her instincts, intuition and insight. They warned her of danger, helped guide her decisions with gut feelings, let her see past people's actions and into their hearts.

_Is it really like a youkai's beast? I don't know what its really like, the youkai I know aren't really chatty like that but I do know that they control their instincts. I guess I can make a case for that one… Based on what Kikyo said they deal with some emotions – I don't know about that one, but I do know that my aura can share my emotions so maybe? Their beasts seem to be somewhat separate, if it can be stolen, or sealed, or whatever and Inuyasha personality changes whenever his gets out. I don't feel violent, bit that could just be a difference, Inuyasha tends to be violent in general and I'm not. But I definitely get the separate but still me part. It is also a more powerful part of me, last time I saw Sesshomaru's beast get out I was almost floored just by the increase in youki not to mention the increased physical strength an presence…_

She looked up at Sesshomaru, "I think I understand. I don't think its exactly the same as a youkai's beast but it might follow the same general principle. I don't ever feel like chasing down fuzzy critters but I get the almost duel personality thing." She stopped for a moment more of inner contemplation. As she focused on the feel of her powers within her they came to the surface of her awareness. Its power caressed against her awareness and she embraced it for the comfort of that inner strength is. Then she let it recede so she could focus on the impromptu lesson Sesshomaru was teaching. As it sunk back into her she felt its warm glow there, a constant that she always felt even if she wasn't aware of it.

Her eyes popped wide with sudden realization. To not have that part of her would be … horrible, sacrilegious, all manner of wrong. Sesshomaru, who had lived with his beast for much longer, was missing his. She looked at him with new understanding. _He wasn't only stuck in a strange, weak body his soul wasn't whole._

"Never mind that," he said reading her thoughts in her face, which he was staring at very intently as he watched his lesson work in her mind. "Focus on that half of yourself, bring it out, talk to it. What is its form?"

Kagome closed her eyes and began to meditate again; letting her mind form whatever images it would as she called forth her powers. She was in a trace-like state when she spoke out loud what was going on inside her so that her instructor could follow along. "Its just light. Pink light, like when I make purifying arrows. I've never heard it before but now it's making a sound like little bells, no, a wind chime. Its all gathering into one place. Its like an ocean, all liquid and ripple-y." She was quiet while she concentrated. _I need you to work with me here. We need to work this out and I am sorry but I need to see you and hear you to do that. Boy does this bring a whole new meaning to talking to myself! _Then she saw it and heard it. In her mind the edge of the water began to flow upwards and began to take a shape that ended in an exact copy of her just glowing with a warm pink radiance. She was dressed in a beautiful kimono of white with pink, glowing cherry blossoms.

Then she spoke it sounded like her voice but more crystalline, clearer and still with a little of the tinkle of the wind chime. _Well, it's about time._

"She's me, snarky attitude and everything, but brighter and made of water. Am I a mermaid or something?" The last was a side thought that happened to come out of her mouth but her inner self laughed at it. _At least I amuse myself_, she thought with a smile.

"Now, step into her so that you are one person again, but with both consciousnesses."

She followed his instruction and started moving towards her waiting image. As she closed the final bit of distance with her other self she noticed at the last second that her other self was smirking. As her felt herself surrounded by and merging with the manifestation of her powers the thought to it, _What's so funny?_, but it was too late, she was already in the other self.

_It's not too late, I'm still here. And what's so funny is that you are following Sesshomaru's instructions without question – don't you find that even a little bit odd. You wouldn't even do that with Inuyasha, you would ask him questions every step of the way. Makes you wonder what's going on, hmm? _

_Oh, you think you're so smart._

_We both know that I am, that we are, you just don't want to admit everything that you know – or feel. That's why I am here and stay out of sight, well out of mind at least, most of the time _ I know and I don't feel the need to deny or hide it. But we can talk about that later, we were working on something just now…_

"She's a talkative little thing." Kagome said aloud again.

"Maybe they all are…" Sesshomaru mumbled in the barest of whispers, but with her duel consciousness she heard him clearly.

Y_eah, I sharpen your senses, too, not as much as his will be when he's restored, but ten times better than the best human's, maybe more._

_Interesting…_

Sesshomaru was talking again and she missed it. _Oops, he hates to repeat himself._

_Oh, for you I think he might…_

"Would you shut up!" Kagome nearly yelled.

"Human." Somehow the croak still held a world of menace.

_I shivered at a croak! That is some serious skill! _

_I wonder what other skills he has? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge._

_Are you sure you are PRIESTESS powers? Aren't you supposed to be pure?_

_I AM pure. Pure you!_

"No, stop, I don't want to hear it. We are listening to Sesshomaru now. No more talking."

_But…_

"No. Listen." She paused for a moment. She opened her eyes and saw the world in super high definition. It did NOT help Sesshomaru look any better in his current situation. She actually grimaced at him.

He looked amused. "Are you ready to continue now?"

_Phew, he's not mad._ _Wonder what of this whole thing he's finding amusing? Then again, I am talking to myself, occasionally out loud … and getting an answer… heck, I'm getting a whole conversation. My life is SOOO weird!_

_Mine, too, but its been getting better recently._

_What do you mean by that?_

_Don't forget, he hates to repeat himself, and we haven't answered him yet._

_You! ME! Argh!_

"Yes, we – I mean – I am ready." _Aren't I_, she added with a scowl to both herself and her inner self.

"You become accustomed to it in time."

Kagome looked at him for a moment. It was a concession that he had not needed to make, to sympathize with her, to give her comfort and perhaps a little bit of hope. Maybe he would get a treat for this new trick he was showing, maybe another visitor and cryptic clue…

"Listen, I will not repeat myself." (_Or maybe not_.) "While you can talk to it it does not truly have a language, but it has understanding. When it touches another's beast you can communicate. Small powers can talk to no one, medium powers can talk to their own, stronger powers can talk to many beings. For now you will have to work to cooperate with your beast, but when you are better integrated you will just be able to think that you want to speak to a youkai and you will. You have actually already done this, yesterday, with Ah-Un. Your beast acted on their own, as I assume the has for years, and called out to them. They heard you and responded, forming a bond between the three of you. This should be as easy a start as you'll get."

_I wish he would stop calling it a "beast",_ Kagome mentally grumbled to herself. But she would let it go for now considering how much Sesshomaru had talked in the past hour and the fact that he was doing it for her benefit. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt either way, _Probably just habit, anyhow_.

Her inner self chuckled at her and she pushed it away and towards the dragon which was still towering over her protectively. And it worked, for a split second. She could almost feel the twin dragons in her head.

Then her head started spinning. She saw blurs of color swirling round and she was struck with a horrible case of vertigo. She curled into a ball on the ground. She held onto her head, which felt like it was going to split open with all the chaos that was raging through her skull. _This is so not good! I'm going to hurl!_

Before she could complete the action she was plucked effortlessly from her spot and moved rapidly into the cool, fresh air that meant she was outside. She was set gently on the ground, still curled up. She lay there panting for some time.

The air helped. She started feeling better. She was still seeing flashes of colors and there was a cacophony ringing in her head but there was no real pain, just confusion, and things were becoming less chaotic. She kept her eyes closed and slowly uncurled to lay on her back and took purposeful deep breaths.

She did not know how long it took her to regain her composure, she might have actually drifted off for a bit, but when she did she was sure she had done something right. _I can here them! "Ah-Un!"_

The babble that she had been hearing non-stop suddenly ceased. She opened her eyes to see the twin heads looking down at her from where the stood protectively over her body. She felt their relief flood through her senses. They heard her and knew she was finally hearing them.

_I think they like us. They were terrible worried over you when you didn't react so well_.

_Can they hear you?_

_No, only you can hear me. Remember I really am you, not someone else. I am the medium that conveys your thoughts, so they will only hear what you want to convey to them. And think about it, do you really hear words or do you just know what I am saying? If I had to say all the words out these little conversations would really take away from your real time life. Speaking of which…_

Ah-Un's shock seemed to have worn off. They were both asking if she was uninjured, if anything was wrong and if they needed to do something for her. It was a strange combination of thoughts, feelings, images and words that conveyed this, but it was the same as communicating with her powers, she got it. That simple.

_Can I talk to them like this or do I talk out loud?_

_Either, both, whatever, they'll get it__._

_Will start with both to keep down the weird factor while I get used to this…_

"Hey guys. I'm fine. This is just new to me so it threw me for a loop. See nothing wrong. Now, if you'll back up I'll get up and show you." They stepped back and she attempted to stand. She was a little unstable and wobbled like a colt, but there was a massive head on either side of her instantly to help her regain her balance.

"I'm good," She said and they lifted their heads. She took a step forward and hugged the broad chest as best she could. "You guys are great! Thank you, for everything."

Some tension was released in her at the affectionate action and she began to cry and did not stop for some time.


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks to everyone who told me what you thing about the longer vs shorter chapters; it was unanimous, all seven of you who gave me responses said you liked the longer chapter – just remember that you said it was okay for me to be wordy… but if I do start getting too descriptive or if I start chasing too many bunnies (getting off topic) let me know and I'll fix it. I wanted to make sure I thanked everyone properly, so…

Thank you **Jen Konoha, Fairy Demon26**, and **kagome13cdj** for your opinions, its was super nice to hear some input from first time reviewers!

Thank you for **iheartanime43** and **The Anti-Strategist** for your previous encouragement and for participating in this little survey.

Thank you, **Sesshomaruluvr14**, it was your first review and you gave me a lot of good feedback, don't worry, I love when people "blab" at me like that, keep it up.

Last, but definitely not least, **Haltia**, you review all my chapters and always give me such encouragement. Thank you so very much for being a loyal and verbal reader!

**Frog Prince: Chapter 14 **

Sesshomaru sat twenty feet back from the entrance of Ah-Un's den against a boulder. He could see inside the little cave just fine. At first the twins had corralled the girl back into their cave and crowded her against the back wall with themselves between the opening and her but she had not liked it. She had positioned herself so that she was in full view of the entrance, though it seemed she did it unconsciously (probably her own version of a beast acting on instinct, Sesshomaru reasoned, but what is it that there are telling her; that she needs to be closer to the exit or that she needs to be closer to…) and she had been crying for almost an hour.

While she cried he could not help but listen to it with a strange mixture of strange thoughts and feelings. The sound made him uncomfortable, partly because he was generally bad with emotional outbursts and partly because he knew that he was the root of many of the ones that this girl cried now. It was not guilt that he felt but a sense of responsibility, a need to protect her. He thought for a while on his own emotions and how strange It was to have intellectual instincts beyond his beast. And thoughts of his beast brought him back to considering the miracle that he had seen the girl perform; never had he known a human capable of what she had done.

Once again his eyes, that had never left the girl, focused on the sleeping figure. He watched her as her heaves calmed to the occasional sniffle and finally she fell into an exhausted slumber curled into a ball with the dragons body curled around her protectively, Ah's muzzle laying on her shoulder in comfort and observation while Un kept a wary eye on the imp outside their shelter.

**Ridiculous animal!** Sesshomaru told it with body language while he wondered to himself_, Why is it that I enjoy watching them sleep, this girl and Rin. Perhaps it is the miracle of silence…_

Un just snorted and rolled its eyes, **Whatever, buddy.**

Sesshomaru could not be completely displeased with the creature. It was treating the miko the same way they treated Rin, much as he had been finding himself doing, and he was pleased that the twins had decided she was worth protecting and caring for like Rin. It matched his own growing intellectual instinct to keep her safe and happy.

_She is, after all, the means to my restoration_, he tried to reason away these feeling, but he felt a tiny seed of untruth in that thought but quickly dismissed it (for now) by focusing on her obvious humanness, _that is if she could manage to remain conscious for any reasonable amount of time._

As he watched the dragons sheltering the girl with their body and tried not to think about her his mind went to the other human who enjoyed the twins as a bed roll. Rin. He had finally come to admit, to himself and through his action to those around him, that he was fond of the human child. For better or worse she was his either way because Rin had been changed by her resurrection by a demon blade. While she looked and acted just like any other human girl she had been granted a small thread of spiritual energy that was unique. It was not the same as a human reiki or a demon youki, it was something almost between the two, but it allowed her some very simple communication with the beasts of those in her pack, except Jaken who had completely sealed his away. Since it had happened while she was so young the difference would most likely by more severe and humans would most likely not accept her.

_They do have such issues accepting differences_, he thought for the millionth time of destroying the village that had shunned his ward. His face transformed with a demented sneer that just did not fit the imp face, but on his regular made armies reconsider. He had hated humans for their weakness and inability to endure through time, now he hated them for their treatment of others; youkai, hanyou, humans, animals, the land, everything. _Humans are stupid_, he thought with renewed conviction.

That thought made him consider the sleeping girl again. She was unique as well, like Rin, and she did not judge (just look at the group that she surrounded herself with), like Rin. But she was powerful. Powerful like no other human he had met in hundreds of years and she was constantly helping others. He found himself pondering how she fit into her society. _Do they shun her for her differences or do they accept her for her power over demons. Most likely they do both, exploiting her generous nature for what they need without ever accepting her. But then again, she with her power level would she ever truly be understood by anyone?_

Sesshomaru had always had a great intelligence and millennia of life to consider the details of the world and all the life therein and power was one of his topics of keen interest. He had observed many youkai in his youth and found their differences fascinating and with a few well worded questions and a patient ear he was able to gather a great deal of information from a variety of sources. As he had grown far fewer were willing to share with him so he used hypotheses formed from the data he had been able to collect and began using his amazing observation skills to test them.

His findings then helped him understand now how truly amazing the miko in front of him was. Low levels youkai with little power were more or less all animalistic so that there was nothing other than the instincts and drive that makes up their beasts, with what little true thoughts they had fully integrated into their beasts. Middle level powers were split in which half dominated (instinct or thought) but all were the same in that the dominate half subjugated the other and controlled it for its purposes, much like what he had seen generations of priestesses and monks do. One of the reasons that he thought humans were lesser was because even the most powerful of them only ever displayed this level of power, while most were like the lesser youkai with so little power that their energy could be fully integrated with their consciousness. He had never witnessed a human that was like a daiyoukai, the highest power level, until now.

There were few true daiyoukai in the world, those youkai that were so powerful that there was a need for an almost separate consciousness to help them manage their awesome power and instincts, and they were a lonely and dangerous bunch. Sesshomaru had always thought that it was actually a gift from the gods that the most powerful youkai were granted separate beasts within themselves, so that they would have a constant companion when all others were so distant. There was no way for a daiyoukai to have an equal as a companion for a long amount of time, no other understood what it was to have such power or instinct or the beast that controlled it and any other daiyoukai were too valuable to their own territory to be gone for long.

Most daiyoukai mated with higher mid-level youkai but on occasion an arrangement could be made for two dais to mate. It was not a simple process and needed the consent and cooperation of many other dais. They would arrange a few years to be together and create an heir but for that time they had to leave their domains in the care of trusted hands because the instinct to protect and care for the mate and child were too strong to allow for anyone or anything to interfere. When the appointed time for them to return to their lives came they had to have another dai or 2…or 3…or in his parents case all 10 of the daiyoukai of Japan and 2 from the continent, step in and separate them forcibly. Then they were secluded in specially made cells for another year or two to overcome the instinct to destroy everything to get their missing child or mate back. Thankfully most dai matings bare twins so one child can go with each parent to help calm them. It was a great misfortune of his parents that only one child was born. When the other dais separated the mated pair they had to choose; one parent would be given their son to care for, protect and anchor their sanity, the other would be deprived of mate and pup and would go mad with rage and loneliness.

Sesshomaru shook his head almost violently to derail his train of thought. He rarely thought of his mother, this was the most he had thought of her at one time since he was young and traumatized by his father's telling of it and his reaction to just the telling. That day his father had sat down and explained it to him was a horrible day, it was the only day he had ever seen his father cry. He was physically restrained while he told his son, his father's beast fought the whole time to deny it and break free enough to stop the tale. The young pup had feared for his father's sanity with just the telling of the tale, for he sobbed, cried out and howled his anguish and loss and eventually the restraints were not enough and he had slipped his skin, the beast finally winning out and escaped from the Western Palace. He was gone for almost six months before he returned to find his son stuck in his demon form. His beast never allowed more than a passing thought of his mother or that incident with his father because it understood the horror of what had happened to them, and to him as a pup deprived of its mother forever, and could not bear any thoughts of it.

This time Sesshomaru squeezed his eyes tight to stop the flow of memories. Without his beast his mind was free to wander and dwell on his most painful memories. He had never missed his constant companion more than he did at that particular moment. He opened his eyes to glare at the girl who was the cause of all of this thought and blinked not at the girl but at his nightmarish thoughts manifested before him.

As if summoned by his trip down memory lane he saw the figure of his father standing outside the dragon's den. He closed his eyes again and opened them. He watched as the apparition ducked into the cave, squatted down by the dragon and placed one hand on the Un's head and the other reached down to caress the flushed cheek of the sleeping girl.

He rubbed his eyes vigorously. The apparition remained. _So the beast is a safety devise for our sanity as well… it looks like I will be taking after my mother from here… _

"Yes and no." Sesshomaru heard the calm, deep voice of his father say. The ghost lay his hand on the girls cheek, cupping it affectionately and bent down to lay a kiss on her temple before turning and rising to face his son. "Yes, the beast helps protect our sanity but no, you are not insane…yet. Though I do not wait too much longer before gaining your tail, but since you are here it should not be too much longer, I wager."

Sesshomaru's brain was stopped. He was overcome for a moment by that strange sense of relief that everything will be all right that all children get when their parent arrives on the scene of a disaster. Then his brain restarted and he wanted desperately to hide his shame and ugliness from the being he most admired and respected, the great Inu no Taisho.

The ghost, knowing his son, read this thoughts in his eyes clearly, "Silly pup, I have had a hand in this transformation of your so there is nothing for you to hide. If anything, you should have been ashamed of how you were before. I did not raise you to be so cold and callous."

Sesshomaru stood in an instant, back stiff and hackles raised (well, they would have been if he had had them). "I am a good ruler. I keep my lands and my people safe, just as you taught me. I have done nothing to besmirch our family's reputation…"

Inu no Taisho chuckled at his son, remembering that this is the way a child reacts to a parent's reprimands, even if Sesshomaru was not a typical son or he a typical parent. "My son, how young you are still. The lands are fine; it is you who are not. Or at least, were not. Thankfully you found yourself a very effective catalyst for the little misadventure you have going here."

He turned soft eyes back to the girl sleeping ignorantly in the protective circle of the dragon's body. Sesshomaru was not sure about that look. "Come out here, away from her, so that we can talk," he tried to coax with a voice tried to make sound indifferent.

His father was not buying it. "Protective, aren't we, even without your "tail" I can still see your protective instincts, but for you, in this time, that is a very good thing, a good thing indeed. However, I am unfortunately limited in my manifestations, all things considered, to the range of my part in this intervention. I will step away from her but if I do then I can only go to the other one."

Sesshomaru thought furiously to interpret the ghost words. He was feeling overwhelmed by the whole situation, feeling like he was missing the important points and being led around by the nose by the ghost's words. Still he could not think straight. "Other one?"

"Poor little puppy who lost his teeth, no one can tell that he is the chief. Who will see thru the empty toothed smile, only the one who is cared for in style." He looked at his son for a moment to see the words recorded in his brain if not comprehended. "It is a father's place to have mercy on their children, so I will tell you your "trick" for which I give the "treat": you have learned to care. I argued that you already had but He wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke. I will be waiting with your teeth with the other one. Don't want to make it too easy on you…" and with that he took two steps into the cave and melted away. His voice called out, "Don't forget to get your tail before your teeth or you might end up biting the hand that feeds you without realizing it."

Sesshomaru was befuddled. He had spent more time than he cared to admit thinking over the reincarnated miko's words with no more clue as to what she was getting at. Now the ghost of his father shows up and says that he is in league with the evil wench and has taken his "teeth". The big question mark was on the other "He" that his father mentioned, a being more powerful and in charge of this hellish prank. But it meant that he had more clues and he could work with that.

_Teeth… but I should have my tail, or beast, first… so of the things I am missing that might bite – my youki. My father has stolen my youki!_, he realized with a shock. _That basta_…

Of course the girl chose that moment to stir. Ah-Un, who had seemed completely ignorant of the exchange between deceased father and bespelled son, looked down at the rousing girl. She blinked her eyes open and looked up at the half-brothers with a radiant smile. "You guys…" she started before she thought about it. Then the air around her seemed to shimmer for a moment and she started again, this time with her beast to the front so she could really talk with the creature(s). "Thank you guys, I think that I've just been a little overwhelmed with everything."

The dragons considered her and bleated. Sesshomaru could only guess that they inquired after what exactly had been happening to her, but it was a good guess considering that they had been his mount for nearly 500 years. The dragons, while fairly simple in their thinking, were always interested in others. They would listen for hours to Rin's inane prattle and the shot at a real story excited them.

"Oh, I don't know, telling Inuyasha that I don't really love him anymore, running away from him and all my friends just to go help one of our all-time worst damage dealing enemies, and just everything from being caught up in this mess with Sesshomaru."

Bleat.

"Yeah, your master, Sesshomaru. He's right over there. I was trying to tell you before. That's him. He's been cursed, I guess."

Six eyes all turned to look at him. He decided it was as good as any time to approach, though he still remained outside the opening to the den. The twin creature turned back to her and bleated again. Her eyes changed from what he guessed was her own consideration of him to a look he had never seen on her face before, almost admiration, as she listened to what his mount was saying about him.

"I didn't know you guys thought so highly of him, and I assure you, that is him. I know, he does look like Jaken and he doesn't have his normal…presence, but its him."

Sesshomaru looked at the dragons and considered the girl's words. _They think highly of me? Well, of course, they have seen me in battle many times. However, I doubt that that would equate to the same high regard as she holds true… makes one does wonder what exactly is being said behind one's back._

They were looking at him again, then they looked back to her to receive a nod of confirmation, and once again looked at him and shook their heads in disbelief.

"Here, look at this." The girl closed her eyes, finally not looking at him, and her brows furrowed in concentration. "See. I think it's him. You know how he can do _anything_, right? Well, he was able to teach me how to do this, talk to you like this, and I'm a human. If anyone can do the impossible like teach a flunked miko to talk to dragons it's him."

It was Sesshomaru's turn to stare at the strange girl and wonder what she was showing the dragons and not saying out loud. He had a great deal of evidence to her oddness but this was beyond any of it. The sincerity in her belief of him was astonishing. Anyone who had met him acknowledged his power, it was plain to all, but few creatures really _believed_ in _him_. There was only one other who had done it in such a short time and so completely – Rin.

_Rin! The other one. It's Rin. I can get my youki back if I go to Rin! _Sesshomaru turned to find the girl but stopped as his father's warning echoed through his head, "_Don't forget to get your tail before your teeth or you might end up biting the hand that feeds you without realizing it_." The wheels in his head started turning rapidly putting the few pieces of the puzzle he had together.

"What were the words of the undead miko?" Sesshomaru turned again to the scene in the cave, asking the girl to confirm the words that he remembered. For some reason he felt that he had to hear her say them to confirm his suspicions.

"Oh! Um…" The girl struggled out of the nest of dragon she was laying in and went to the far corner where her nearly empty pack had ended up. "It's a good thing I put this in the big zipper pouch in front," she mumbled as she pulled out her bound papers. Ah kept his eye on his charge while Un continued to watch the imp in question at the cave entrance, still not ready to believe it was their master. "Here it is: Poor little puppy who lost his tail, running in circles to no avail. Look to the left, look to the right, look both ways and see it you might."

As she concluded she looked up at Sesshomaru in question, there was a lot going on and this was the first thing that he had said to her. His eyes shone with intelligence and excitement as their eyes met and slowly he turned to look at the dragons. She shifted her eyes as well and saw the dragons, heads turned in opposite directions, considering both of them.

"OH MY GODS! LOOK LEFT AND LOOK RIGHT, LOOK BOTH WAYS! IT'S YOU GUYS!" She squealed with delight and launched herself at the dragons' necks, wrapping one arm around each, drawing all of their attention back to her.

They clicked in her ear for a moment and she looked up at them with a radiant smile. "You guys are a piece to our Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle."

"Hn," came the very displeased grunt from the imp.

She looked up apologetically, **I'm sorry.** "It's what I call it in my head and with this double talking, out loud and in my head it gets confused. I did not mean to offend you. I swear."

Her sincerity and obvious concern over his insulted pride made him repent and he nodded his head at her. He redirected his gaze and with a tilt of his head considered the dragons. **Now how do they fit**, he slicked his eyes to her for a moment with a slight smirk, **into this "Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle"?**

She caught the look and the meaning. She looked down for a moment guiltily, seemed to consider for a moment, and then looked at him with an unrepentant smile. "Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle" seemed to have become an inside joke between them (if only he could see the mental image she had to go with that label he might not have been quite so accepting…). They both shifted their focus back to the dragons, considering - intently.

The dragons were beginning to realize that they were the center of attention. They looked at each other in worry. They smelled trouble…


	15. Chapter 15

Communication Guide:_Thoughts to self or their beast/avatar; Thoughts of beast/avatar to self;_** Body language;**"Conversation, both in the physical and mental world"

Special note of thanks to **Haltia** for the term "avatar" for Kagome's powers, though I still call her Megoka (Kagome backwards), too.

Frog Prince: Chapter 15

"Ahhh." Kagome was able to hear the familiar deep baritone voice as it seemed to thrummed through her very being. "This…" she could hear the speechless quality of that statement that meant that there were no words for what he was experiencing, and even the mixed emotion he conveyed were predominantly positive.

With her hands still trapped between the giant muzzles of the twin dragon heads that were crowding to nuzzle the tiny green figure and said figures boney little shoulder she could almost feel the… creature stretch itself within the tiny body, pressing on the unfamiliar constraint of this container as the beast settled in beside its master's presence. In her head she heard the voice drop to a growly bass and purr out a contented, "Home."

It was strange to Kagome, the way that she felt and saw the beast that had just been returned to Sesshomaru, it was like having a conversation with a walking, talking, emoting movie. She heard it and felt it and practically saw what it thought.

Then suddenly there was an angry growl and she felt and if a giant claw had raked her front and she went hurdling back and to the ground. The pain robbed her of breath for several moments, but she felt safe enough with her dragons that jumped in to stand over her protectively.

She felt their confusion ringing in her head. The twins, her first encounter with youkai communication, were reaching out with their youki to caress her own powers with a silent plea to talk to them. However, the light touch of their power against hers was enough to send her a fit of red hot pain. She curled into a ball clutching her chest whimpering.

The brothers dropped to their knees and started to sniff and nuzzle her looking for injury and clicking and chirping away in pointless chatter. As the pain eased she uncurled a little and tried to gain enough breath to speak but in their insecurity and desire to protect her they reach out tentatively several more times making her whimper and tighten in on herself again. She knew that they meant well but she wished they would just back off.

Her wish was granted several minutes later when she heard the funny plopping gait that was the approach of the imp's funny feet. If she was still hearing that small sound it meant that she was still "in synch" with her avatar. She opened her right eye just a slit to see the waddling approach of Sesshomaru. The giant beast of burden was extremely skittish (not that she blamed them at all, all things considered, she was feeling a bit skittish herself) and once again stood protectively over her, facing off with the imp, heads swinging around in warning and confusion.

As is sometime the case when one is dazed and in pain, Kagome noticed the minute details of the approaching figure. She marveled again at the opportunity that she had to learn Sesshomaru's little tell tale body language because of the demented body he was stock in always exaggerated everything; like the sigh of irritation that she saw the little chest heave that she was sure would never have been noticeable on the regular daiyoukai body. She noted the new spring in his shuffled step, a sign that while she was in pain he was quite pleased with life. She saw a new glow in his eyes, an old familiar glow, a dangerous glow of a barely caged carnage. She was shocked she hadn't noticed was missing in the imp until it was returned.

_People are sure to see Sesshomaru for Sesshomaru now_, she thought looking into those eyes that coldly regarded her.

Um…Might I suggest we worry about us right now. That look could very well mean death and I am not in a very good spot right now. Stupid dog was suppose to not have teeth – what the heck! Hurts like a…

_Yep, definitely still in synch_! Megoka, her powers manifest as her very own avatar, was as loud as ever. Kagome was already focusing again on the undetermined threat that did the one thing she was counting on him not being able to do – he touched the antsy dragon that was hovering over her and it move away from her. There _goes my protection… if I die because of this I will haunt those two forever_!

She looked up into those yellow eyes that seemed to shoot laser beams of hate and death she knew that she might very well be seeing how much control dead spirits had in choosing whom they haunted_. I don't want to haunt him if he kills me, somehow I don't think it would be safe even for something dead to try and harass Sesshomaru. _

She refused to meet her death or Sesshomaru's cold gaze curled up on the ground like a startled pill bug, she had as much pride and will as he did, by George, and she was going to show it.

That's my girl, cheered Megoka in her head as Kagome rolled herself over onto her hands and knees. She gritted her teeth as pushed off with her hands, forcing her upper body upright, and sat as serenely as possible on her now folded legs.

She looked straight at the toad. She placed her hands in front of her so that they made a triangle with the forefingers and thumbs and bowed her head slightly, keeping her eyes on the small figure. **Lord Sesshomaru, I greet you, with honor but as an equal.**

She straightened almost immediately, biting the side of her cheek and counting her breaths to maintain her straight back and slightly raised chin while Megoka watched out for any sudden or threatening moves. _… 3 – This dual – 4 – consciousness –5 – thing sure can – 6 – be handy – 7…_

Suddenly Kikyo's words rang through her memory_. I wonder, when he regains his tail will it wag in happiness or stick straight out in threat? _

_12 – Is she trying to kill me? – 13 – _

_No, she's actually saving you. Okay, she's not really trying to save __**you**__, she's trying to save herself, but in the long run she'll save you, us, too__._

_Huh? – 16 – _

_Well, I know what she's doing because I kind of did it with her, am doing it with her – this time thing is really confusing! You are her reincarnation, her soul is your soul and while you're like 50 times more powerful than she ever was a part of the essence is still the same, and she's still working off a little bit that she's stolen from you…Anyways, let's just say that I know what she is doing and that is trying to save her soul. She's destined for a not so pleasant afterlife/bad turn of the wheel/whatever you want to call it, and she's trying to fix it. She's got a deal with a god to work in exchange for a pass. Hey,she's not so bad; she thinks that you at least have a shot at figuring out this Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle because of how much Inuyasha has changed. _

_20 – Glad to know someone - 21 – is getting something – 22 – out of all of this!_

_Think about it, if you can manage to pull it off we'll have a fully restored daiyoukai on our side and useful training under our belt to defeat Naraku – no need to depend on her anymore, probably. But, I have to tell you, she still thinks that you can blow it big time because, well, you are YOU, you know – your mouth and that temper – woah boy…_

_27 – Ok, thanks for the vote of confidence – 28 – you know you are me and we have - 29 – the SAME mouth issues!_

When Kagome reached 30 breaths the pain had subsided considerably and nothing had happened yet. She let her eyes focus on the imp before her. He was just staring at her with his head cocked slightly to the side. For some reason she felt like she could almost hear whispers of a conversation going on. _Guess I can't blame him, I was kind of doing the same thing… What is he thinking?_

"Ah, Lord Sesshomaru," she said, despite her recent familiarity she felt sticking with the formal title might just be a better idea at this particular juncture.

Do you think getting his attention is wise?

As the yellow eyes seemed to regain their focus and narrow dangerously she gulped, _Maybe not… Do not cower, do not cower, he's still less than a meter tall, do not cower…_

"Human, allow this Sesshomaru to touch you," the squeaky voice commanded with the slightest amount of rise in intonation at the end of the sentence to almost turn it into a question.

She stared at him. She did a quick mental checklist of known Sesshomaru behaviors: 1. Does everything for a reason but doesn't seem to feel the need to share said reason with the little pions 2. Does not ask anyone to do anything, ever, it's always a command (_even this much is a huge concession on his part_) 3. Has never asked for physical contact, if anything avoids it at all costs;and cross referenced it with Sesshomaru's recent actions 1. Referred to himself if the third person for the first time in a long time 2. Somehow inflicted a great deal of pain to her when they were last touching 3. He still needs me (_I hope – please, oh please, still have a need for me to be alive and not a bloody puddle on the floor_); and added in her own two cents 1. Kikyo's warning still said he might not like me (_even if the scheming witch seems to be depending on my freakin' Dog Whisper status_) 2. I…trust him… (she was kind of surprised with the weight that that simple instinct weighted In her equation; _if you want I can clue you in_… )

Conclusion: Something was definitely up with Sesshomaru and she felt she needed to allow him to touch her, but caution is always a super-virtue when dealing with a daiyoukai, even one that was bespelled into a virtually helpless form.

"Why?" was all she said aloud but her body language conveyed the**, I'm inclined to trust you but I am extremely wary.**

**Smart girl, caution is good. **His nod and pursed lips with the corners turned up said, as if he were her teacher and she had done good on her lesson. "To talk."

"But…" She looked at the dragon that was standing off to the side, the two heads swaying back and forth in indecision of who was in charge which made them look very much like snakes caught in the trance of a piper's song. She thought about how she had talked with the dragons, their twin voices buzzing in her head. "With them I didn't have to be touching, it helped but…"

Sesshomaru huffed in obvious frustration, "I still have no youki," he stated. He continued when she turned uncomprehending eyes to him. "I cannot reach out, physical contact is required."

She looked at him dumbly for a moment. "But what if I reach out to you?"

"No, as I am it would not work, my beast would not allow it. I am too powerful for anyone to force contact. If I allowed it you would have the chance to damage me, like I did to you earlier, and my instincts will not allow that to happen. Therefore I must have physical contact."

_Teacher mode: activate_, she thought as she processed his words. _So I could hurt others with my aura like he did to me…that's worth putting on the back burners – it hurt like the dickens and it would be awesome to be able to do, especially if I could do it from a distance…_

"If I do let you touch me, will you hurt me again? That was more than a little tickle – okay it hurt like blue blazes –and I am not inclined to repeat the experience."

"I had not intended to hurt you. It was my instinctual reaction to a…powerful presence so close. I will not hurt you, if it can be helped."

_Wow, he said I was powerful! Wow! _

_Wait, I think you need to pay closer attention to the rest of what he said right now!_

_Uh-oh!_ Kagome thought back over his last statement; that was a conditional statement if she ever heard one, and conditions are not always met… She started to scoot back from him on her knees unconsciously.

Sesshomaru's keen eye caught her hesitation and responded to her retreat with a frustratingly inadequate fart-like growl. **Stop. Do not move**.

She was even less inclined to listen to him now that he was trying to keep her where she was, doubt started to gnaw at her gut and motivated her to get to her feet for a quick get away if need be.

Suddenly Ah-Un was in front of her blocking her way. She did not want to hurt the twins, they were now part of her responsibility and you don't hurt what you watch out for, but she did not want to be stopped. As her conflicting instincts warred inside her she felt a cold, almost slimy caress at her ankle that turned into a steel grip.

_Oh crap_! Kagome thought at the same moment Megoka shouted, _Okay, mister man, you wanna fight, I'll FIGHT!"_

***Author's Note***

A couple of things; Ch 15, 16 and 17 were written as one chapter but it got really long so I split it up, hope it works okay for every one. As it is this is the third complete rewrite on this chapter. I wrote two completely different take on it from Ah-Un's perspective and it was fun but it didn't get the story where I wanted it to be. Also, I apologize for the somewhat rough feel of these chapters. I think that with work I could make them flow a bit better but at this point I've spent about twenty hours writing, editing and rewriting this chapter and I'm just ready to move on. Maybe someday in the future I will come back to fix it.

Again I want to thank you **Haltia** for your constant reviews and the awesome suggestion of the term "avatar".

**Carielle Hale**, I'm blushing. Thank you. I hope that you still enjoy these chapters even though they're not my best.

**Sesshomaruluvr14** and **Iheartanime43** – thanks for the reviews, they are super encouraging and honestly it's huge in keeping me writing.


	16. Chapter 16

Frog Prince: Chapter 16

Sesshomaru had used her moment of distraction that he had created by ordering the dragons to stop her to grab a hold of her. He sent his essence, his beast, towards the girl in order to make the necessary connection for communication, it would be quicker both to get the information that he wanted and to acquaint his beast with his current… what was she to him… just an ally, and allies are not to be injured.

Now he was doubting the intelligence of that move. His beast roared through his head, angry and defensive when collided with the creature of light and water that barred its path. A mental middle ground was instantly created when he could not just walk over her defenses and subject her like he had with nearly every other creature he had ever met. Here, in this middle ground the human form grew until its mental sized matched that of the giant dog that Sesshomaru projected. The two astral projections wrestled, biting, kicking, grabbing, throwing, anything to keep the other away. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity both giants backed away from each other and started circling each other cautiously.

Sesshomaru physical body still lay on the ground, hand still clasped around the fallen girl's ankle, panting slightly at the mental strain. She had not used her powers against him, she could have. Without his youki there was no way that he would have survived an attack if she had decided to, she could have purified him but she chose not to. Instead she fought him with the only weapon he had at hand: his formidable will. She had pitted her will against his – and it was a draw.

He had never respected a human before. He was unsure if he wanted to start but it was impossible to deny that this human was remarkable. He made the beast heel, with a better semblance of control over his animalistic nature and instincts he was able to sit on his haunches. His beast subsided with a warning growled at the now shrinking figure that said without words **Any time, bitch**.

Both Sesshomaru and his beast knew that while the projection shrunk it still held all the necessary power no matter its size, it just seemed more comfortable human sized, even though his beast stayed its regular proportion. Without being intimidated by the dog's looming presence she flicked a stray lock of hair over her shoulder and answered the gaint canine's reluctant withdrawl, "Well, here we are again, Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object, meeting once again in an epic battle of wills."

She spoke in a voice that had both physical and astral projections closing their eyes and sighing deeply. The giant white dogs tongue lolled out if its mouth in a canine grin as her laughter at her own idiotic joke tinkled lightly across their senses. It was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard, even if its words (and humor) were pure… Kagome.

Kagome. Her name suddenly became real to him. She became real to him. He had never thought of her as anything other than by her designations; human, female, miko, Inuyasha's packmate; but now… now she had a true voice and she was Kagome. In his mind his beast laid down and he barely restrained it from rolling onto its back and asking for a belly rub. _Stupid creature!_

_Tell me you don't really want to do it, too, and I'll stop__,_ his beast retorted.

Sesshomaru, knowing that with his emotional and instinctual side back he was better of ignoring such statements, focused his mental energy onto the girl. To her he said, "There, he will behave himself, he won't hurt you. Now, will you permit me to speak with you?"

"Oh-ho, now that you can't beat me into submission you think that I'll just let you walk right into my brain so we can have a nice intimate talk? Not only did you try to force your way in –NOT a good way to get into anyone's good graces (_But then again you ARE Sesshomaru, the personification of 'Might makes Right', how else would I expect you to act_) but you start off our new avatar-beast communication by doing this to me?" As she gestured to her body he could see three large scars on her stomach.

Speaking of which, she was naked.

Sesshomaru was startled because he knew that humans, this one in particular liked being clothed but he was a youkai and clothes were not as socially necessary. Her physical appearance was of much less importance than other characteristics; dogs weren't overly visual creatures after all.

"Hm, I never thought about it but why don't I have any clothes on in here?" She seemed to be asking Sesshomaru. She seemed to be trying to put mental clothes on to no avail.

"Simple, you are too open a person for inconsequential things like that." He replied.

"Inconsequential, my big bare ass! I want clothes!" She screamed, her voice a touch panicked.

"If you would just allow a connection between us I would not be sitting here staring at your 'big bare ass' and you wouldn't have to worry about it. There are so few others in the world that could even see you this way that I dare say you don't have to worry about it. But if it is truly an issue I can, in time teach you the trick of it."

Kagome's eyes flew to the giant dog's face. "Okay, buster, you look him but how do I talk with the real Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru regarded her curiously, "This Sesshomaru is trying to talk with you now. Are you unwell? Have the wounds not been sealed?" His beast, that was him, raised itself on its belly and inched forward towards the girl to sniff her. She was stood stock still, with a look of shock and horror plastered on her face, as he lowered his muzzle to sniff her.

_If heaven had a smell this would be it_. His beast, his instincts, his true feelings, said to his unsettled heart. She smelled of what she was made of bright light, pure water and warm gentleness. He had never realized that gentleness could have a scent.

He was more than a little taken aback by the appealing aroma that she emitted and to distract himself he wondered how he had never smelled her before. This was of course her most unadulterated scent, in life it would be covered with a thousand other things that she can in contact with, but it should still be there. Then he remembered, she's Inuyasha's pack, the half-breeds scent was always the first that he identify and the only aspect that he had ever really paid attention to, her own identifying uniqueness was just a footnote to his mental catalog for half brother.

His muzzle was resting ever so delicately on her tiny, slender shoulder with his giant nose buried in her hair and it was rudely displaced when her shoulder jerked as she seemed to start awake.

"What the hell?" He asked indignantly as he pulled back. "I was just checking for injury. Dogs rely on scent very heavily, you know."

She sat suddenly on her backside, looking up at the massive figure and began laughing uncontrollably. "Oh, hahaha, my, hahaha, gods, hahaha! I must have died! This is the weirdest afterlife ever! But hey, at least it comes with entertainment. *chuckle* I must have been hurt more than I thought! Well, I guess its about time, it was bound to happen eventually. And I can't say that I am too surprised that it was Sesshomaru that finally did me it. This must be the reward - Sesshomaru as a Chatty Cathy - hilarious!" The figure looked around a bit in disappointment, "Man, I thought I was going to be able to haunt Ah-Un since they got me killed. Dang it. Oh well, now to be 'moving on'".

The girls figure stood and turned around as if to walk away.

"Um, wait, I'm still in my body (kind of). That means I'm not dead. Then that means…" she peeked shyly over her shoulder at the massive dog. "Oh, you are a Chatty Cathy?"

He gave a dog huff and set about clarifying. "I am NOT a woman at all. I am not chatty, not really, the problem is that like this everything is communicated. It is a very intimate means of communication and as a general rule restricted to pack mates. It would take a great deal of concentration to guard, just like it is hard for you to clothe your image. It makes if difficult to be deceitful or dishonest and holding ones tongue. "

"Oh!" the sound of that simple exclamation sent a thrill down his spine. She was innocent, ignorant and amazingly pure.

_Protect_. His beast voice growled deep in his chest, though the word and sentiment was not conveyed to the girl. He calmed his beast; there was no threat at the moment. He had been afraid that this might happen. He knew that his beast had a weakness to pure, joyful females (he refused to admit, even to himself, that if his beast had a weakness to pure, joyful females that meant that HE had a weakness to pure, joyful females). He knew that there was a chance that given his instincts backs they would want to protect the girl. He growled back at his beast to behave, _We have to fix this (Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle) first._

_Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle?_

_Shut up._

While she was not privy to the whole conversation she did however pick up on the shift to serious mood. She straightened her back and then asked tentatively, "Okay, I get it, you won't hurt me (_I hope_) and I need to let you form a… connection? with me so that you can talk, right? And that will be better?" To his nod she asked, "How do I do that?"

He ignored her first several questions, honestly not knowing how it was going to work now that she had proved to be as strong willed as he was. He had never met someone who did not automatically bow to his power and authority. He was in uncharted territory himself, but he resisted with all his might the impulse to share completely with her, he felt that this was still his best option and he did not want her to waste too much more time hesitating. "You just need to allow it."

"But how? I've never been good at just 'allowing' anything"

_Somehow I do not doubt that,_ he thought to himself. To her he said, "Then try to actively do something that would signify acceptance."

She looked at him a little askance and hesitantly said, "Um, okay, if you say so. But remember YOU said I could…"

She took a couple of steps backwards and started taking several deep breaths and visible steeled herself. In his curiosity at what she was doing he leaned down so that he could get a good view.

Where curiosity killed the cat, it might just saved the dog.

He looked down cross-eyed at the human that had managed to launch herself onto the top of his muzzle and was…hugging him. Somehow it seemed to suit her perfectly to accept even him with love and affection.

_No wonder Ah-Un called her Affectionate Girl_, he thought as he felt himself melt both into her and back into his trapped body.


	17. Chapter 17

Frog Prince: Chapter 17

Kagome felt her arms wrap around the giant dog's muzzle. She wasn't quite sure how she had made it all the way up here but she ignored that question to focus on the issue at hand. Sesshomaru had said that all she needed to do was accept him, she could do that, it was her specialty.

For the first time she and her avatar merged into one supremely glowing entity. To her accepting someone was a complete process and she was of one mind when she thought of Sesshomaru in that instance. She opened her heart and let her thoughts of Sesshomaru and whom she knew him to be filter through. She thought of the obvious love and devotion of Rin whom he had taken in, the adoration and trust that Ah-Un had shared with her, the loyalty of Jaken who was always following him, the grudging respect of Inuyasha for his older brother.

And she thought about the time that they had spent together, the way he let her talk, like he did within, the times that he actually spoke in order to teach her, the surprising ease at which they learned to cohabitate, the unspoken inu body language that they had started to use that let her know he was paying attention and willing to interact with her, her own growing trust in him and this new look into his true self: a talkative, concerned, moody, monstrous but surprisingly cuddly dog. He was a complex being, but who wasn't, really.

She could accept him. She would love him like she loved everyone else she shared her adventure here in the feudal era with, she would protect him just like any of her other friends, he had moved beyond ally to friend just like Inuyasha, Kouga and so many others had. This adventure had become about more than just getting him to help them defeat Naraku, she realized, it was a quest to discover not only who Sesshomaru really was but also who she really was. And they were going to do it together.

She could have sworn she heard a deep chuckle at that somewhere in her head but she was distracted by the merging of herself with Sesshomaru as they flowed together and into their own bodies at the same time.

She heard Sesshomaru ask without words, "What did you do to Ah-Un? How did I get my beast back?" and as the answering memories surfaced she felt him skim them off the surface. Somehow this connection was different than the one that she had experienced with Ah-Un, deeper, like it was less messages as a signal between powers and more of a connected consciousness. It felt like he was actually in her mind.

As he examined the memories they shared the memory, almost like a strange first person movie. It started with her contact with the brothers, their fierce loyalty and love for Sesshomaru and their budding protectiveness for herself.

They watched as she cooed and coaxed the brothers into obeying her. Sesshomaru practically whispered like a movie-goer would in the middle of the film to let her know that what she had done was used her powers, her will, to tame them. His own understanding was gently pressed at her while he continued with his own viewing of her memories so that she knew without words that with Sesshomaru's own bonds to his pack being so weakened by his aura's absence she had easily swayed the docile creatures to her call and had made them her own, pack. They had accepted her as their mistress, their master's second.

She focused in on her memories at the point where she had brought the dragons by their bridle over to were Sesshomaru had stood and lowered the beasts heads to encourage them to nozzle him in order to sniff and hopefully identify him as Sesshomaru. She hadn't known what she was going to do once she had convinced them of that but she didn't have to worry about that because there had been a strange twanging feeling in the her chest. Some magic that was hers, but not hers was undone.

The last bit of information he got from her memory was a thought; _He's a frog price that needs the kiss of his true love._

She felt as he pulled the bits of information from her, gently as if not to startle her. As he drew back into himself, out of her mind, he kept the connection open between them.

"Thank you." She said and they shared the understanding that she was thanking him for his gentle handling of her.

"It would be hard to do less with one such as yourself. You are a rare specimen, to be trusting and open. You know I could have destroyed your mind with how defenseless you just were, I can feel that you know it. Why? How can you trust like you do?"

She felt her avatar slip away to sleep and finish healing; leaving her feeling light headed and completely drained of energy. She falling over when she felt the massive heads of Ah-Un support her. She leaned back into their strange embrace and let go. She knew that the three of them would protect her while she slept (again). As her eyes closed she remembered that she wanted to answer Sesshomaru's question, she smiled beautifully down at the trapped daiyoukai. "Because it's you, silly puppy."

Sesshomaru watched as she succumbed to the sleepy wave that over took her. As her last mumbled words reached and the wave of pure acceptance of anything he would do to her. He was shocked and whispered back, "That's why its so unusual, silly girl, you have no reason that would make sense to a human to trust me, but you do."

_Not that you need to worry, sweetling, I will always treasure you and all that you offer up so freely_. Sesshomaru knew in that instant that the bond that they had formed was one that would never break. He had already realized that when her powered had accepted him it wasn't just the simple connection needed to communicate beast to beast but a real bond, and this was the strongest kind he knew of. He had felt a bond like this only once, with his father. She had the power level to form a strong connection, but beyond that she had forged her half of the bond the same way she did everything – with everything that she had and was. It was a bond of acceptance and protection and love. In her ignorance of her power she had formed a familial bond with him. He marveled for a moment at the human woman whom he had at one point tried to kill turning around and accepting him in a way that so few others ever had. Her capacities, for sheer power, forgiveness, and even love, was astounding.

The strange, inexcusable part of the situation was that he had accepted and reciprocated. In that split second when the connection was deepened into a bond his instincts were already considering her that intimate to him and forged his half just as strongly and completely as she had. Somewhere along the line she had already become more than an ally, now she was so much more.

He sighed internally. She was family, not just pack that needed to be watched over, but real family that was just as capably of protecting him as he was of protecting them. He had never thought to experience this again since his father had died so pointlessly for that human woman. This family meant that there was a place that was now safe. _This is the reason that dais don't mate. This feeling, I would never willing leave it for anything. I will give anything to protect her._

_Mine__, _his beast intoned_._

_Yes, ours. Poor, stupid, affectionate human, you just made your life a whole lot more complicated than you could have ever imagined it. _

There was nothing left for him to do. It was done and what would come would come. While he still detested humans it was hard to even consider her one in his own mind. She had a beast and more power than 99.99% of all beings in existence and a aura so pure the sun paled in comparison. She was Kagome and that was enough to him.

On an impulse and reached out to move her fringe out of her eyes. When his fingers touched her forehead he felt her beast rise up, as if to sniff the air, recognize him and reached out and wrapped him in a warm pink glow. The power flared out and created a barrier around them. He could feel the buzz of miko power and was slightly startled to realize that it did not sting at all. The power was there to protect him even more than it was to protect herself.

Family. A tension that had always been with him since his father's death relaxed and he did something that he had never even let himself contemplate: he lay down with another and trusted them to keep watch while he slept.

There was no use denying this bizarre bond so he simple did what instinct dictated, he climbed up into her lap. Dogs are communal creatures and adore physical contact with their kin and it healed and before unknown wound in his heart when he felt her arms wrap protectively around him.

His beast purred just in case he had missed his emotions on this one as he fell asleep; _Family. Safe. Peace. Home… _and as his consciousness slipped away the beast decided to let the last, unspoken truth slip away without being said, neither of them were ready for it yet, anyhow.

The god looked in from the outside the dragon's den at the three sleeping figures. He turned to the miko on his right. Gently he touched her cheek in a tender caress, "Sleep and be at peace."

Kikyo smiled a radiant smile of a soul that knows the joy of forgiveness as her body turned to a fine dust that was scattered by the gentle evening breeze.

In the cave the girl gasped and started bolt upright as the fragment of her missing soul was returned. The dragon's heads came up in question, looked around and seeing nothing but the barrier around them gently pulled the still nearly unconscious girl back down into the curve of their body where she had been sleeping. The imp lay cradled In her arms, still enjoying the peace of true slumber for the first time in centuries, reached up and caressed her cheek and touched powers briefly with hers to calm and reassure her.

"Even in his sleep he reaches out for her," said the incorporeal figure to the god's left. "Who would have ever thought would work out so well."

"Yes, she is quite the dog trainer," the god remarked snidely, "look at the wonders she was able to do with your other pup. If only I could duplicate her and send her to those pesky gryphons in Germany…"

"Oh, I don't think so. You might have created the opening for me to come out and play, but it was our arrangement that if I help you with this you'd let them works it out for themselves. Whether she chooses to stay with either of my sons or goes home to her own blood family (if she can at this point), we agreed that for my help and power you would let them be."

"Don't act so injured. We both know that the real payment was getting to see your sons and helping to fix the mess that this one has made of his life. But never fear, she's a special project of mine, just as much as your boy here, I love her spunk and I wouldn't want to stifle it too much by leading her by the hand."

"What are you planning? I hear that tone in your voice, you won't brake your word, I'm sure, but you'll bend it all to hell to suit your needs."

"Don't worry, don't worry. Just be sure to send him onto the tree when you're done with him. I think he's displayed an unusual amount of trust in another and understanding differences with our little human wonder to earn his next clue."


	18. Chapter 18

Frog Prince: Chapter 18

Kagome leaned back on her elbows and looked up at the green, shifting mosaic of leaves as the massive branches swayed gently in the breeze. It was moments like this that she felt overwhelmed by the many blessings in her life. She looked around for her friends, wanting more than anything to share this peaceful moment with them.

"Be still, petal, or you might rouse the sleeping dog – and you know the old saying – it's best to let sleeping dogs lie," the deep booming chuckle seemed to shake the ground she sat on.

Prompted by the words Kagome turned her head to see that there was indeed a dog slumbering nearby, a massive white beast that even laying down could not have fit under the lowest branches of the tree she sat under. Just seeing him there made her relax a bit.

She stood, walked over to the giant muzzle that was the only part of the behemoth that was in the shade of the tree and considered him for a moment. He had his front legs under him, sticking out parallel from under his chest, with his head propped up on the left one, so that his head had been angled towards her, and his back legs were flopped a little haphazardly to the side so that his body had to twist to accommodate the position. She titled her head, "That does not seem like it would be comfortable, but he seems completely at ease."

"He is at that. At ease, I mean. The raging beast is sleeping peacefully. It's practically unprecedented and suspiciously bizarre. What happened to him, I wonder," the voice had issued a statement but Kagome knew that it was a question, and an accusation, directed at her.

"What happened to him,"she repeated as her mind began to turn over the question. She felt righteous anger well up in her chest as she continued to stare at the massive dog that she knew to be stuck in a tiny impish body. "He was cursed, robbed of his identity, senses, defenses and even part of his very soul. He was forced to jump through hoops because some god thinks that he was some dog that needs to be taught to heel. And just to prove that Fate had it out for him, he got stuck with me as his sidekick for this horrible misadventure. That's what happened to him."

"Well, that very well might be the truth, or at least one version of the truth, but it does not explain his current state of ease – though your surprisingly adamant defense on his behalf says a lot about what might have happened."

"'Version of the truth'", she huffed in indignation her brain having stopped at that and taken offense. She turned her back to the sleeping giant to address her accuser, feeling the need to rant come on, "I'd like to hear a better representation of the truth if there is one! Sesshomaru has been going through hell, and me with him, trying to get back to his normal self. "

"What if there was a greater purpose and the pup's torment was just an added bonus for those of us watching?" the wind carried the question to her ears.

"Well, yeah, there probably is a 'greater purpose', isn't there always in things like this." Oh, yeah, she was in rant mode. Her words were loud and clipped with her self-righteous anger. Her hands were waving about to accent her words; her fingers making quotation marks in the air at 'greater purpose' and a wave of her hand at the 'things like this'. "And while I'm sure there are some gods out there [*right arm outstretched to the sky with palm up as if to include said gods in the conversation*] that just love to mess with us poor mortals [*open hand slaps her own chest as a representation of mortals*], I am positive I have been the target for more than one errant lightning bolt that I'm sure _someone_ got a chuckle out of [*glared daggers sky and invisible gods for laughing at her*] ." She continued with her hands in fists on her hips and her torso leaning forward in an aggressive posture to deliver her conclusion, "But I think even a god would be pretty stupid if they were just pulling this particular dog's tail [*thumb jerk over the shoulder towards said dog*]. But it doesn't matter, what was done was still wrong [*stands up straight, crosses arm across chest and curt nod of self satisfaction*]."

"Oh-ho, is that so, seedling? But even you must admit that sometimes the ends justify the means. And there are some particularly stubborn creatures out there that take some extreme means to budge them even an inch, little own getting a whole 'greater purpose' out of them. And I dare say I am looking at two such creatures now."

"Look here, mister, what is it that you want? I get that this is some type of mystic interview or something. My avatar-senses are tingling – danger, danger! – but not a mortal-physical type danger just a he-has-a-hidden-motive danger. So out with it. You be up front with me and I'll be up front with you… whoever you are." She had begun to pace back and forth as her rant continued to fall unheeded from her mouth. She began ticking off questions on fingers as her mind reviewed all the things she wanted to know, "Who are you? What do you want? – I already said that one, but it's a good one… What do you know about these so-called 'means'? Do you have anything to do with this idiotic god-imposed puzzle? And what the heck does my stubbornness have to do with anything? And I'm NOT stubborn! Sesshomaru – yes; me- no, but that's really neither here nor there…"

She lost her train of thought and footing as the ground shook under her feet and the air trembled with rolling laughter. She was caught so off guard that she stumbled and tripped over a giant paw and did a couple of hops and skips to try and right herself that didn't work. She ended up winded and dizzy with a heart pounding sprawled on her back with her head against the creature's left front leg, looking up at the long hairs that hung down from its lower jaw. She had a sudden image of the first time she saw Sesshomaru in his true form and the acid that dripped from his lips. _Um, I think I need to move – um, NOW!_

As she began to extract herself from her potentially dangerous position she froze at the growl of warning that added its own frequency to the heaving elements around her. She saw the lips above her move to expose gleaming teeth. Determining that the growl was not directed at her and motivated by images of melting skulls she quickly continued to scooted out of her vulnerable spot. She popped up like a jack-in-the-box, and was about as stable as one as she took three or four stumbling steps before turning back to see that, despite his agitated state, there were no red eyes starring at a would be threat. In fact they were still shut and the dog seemed to still be asleep.

"Calm him, please, or he will wake and rip this dream apart. I meant to get only you, but he would not leave your side. The best I can do is keep him asleep, but that is only if he remains calm. You worked yourself into quite the lather there, and he is quite sensitive to you, then you go wheeling about like a newborn foul, fall and give off fear scents right under his nose – he's not awake enough to know the reason for your sudden fear. Calm him down and I will be as painfully blunt as you are, sapling, I give you my word."

Kagome could not miss the sincerity in the tone and feel of the words. He did not want to hurt her, or Sesshomaru, and her instincts told her he would keep his word. Making her decision to trust yet another stranger, she took several steps towards the still growling figure that was struggling to throw off the magically imposed bonds of sleep.

She was startled when her hand was still a foot away from the area of short fur just behind and below the nose (and away from the sharp, exposed teeth) and she felt something brush against her hand and like a sleepwalker the dog reacted, turning its head towards her. She had just enough time to think, _Oh, he has whiskers!,_ before she was knocked onto her bum and then forced back to lie almost flat on the ground as the big nose hit her from collarbone to navel. She felt the tickle of the air around her as it was drawn into the huge nostrils. She was then surrounded a 'hurmph' of warm, moist air and the growling subsided.

The dog, despite being unconscious, was still an inuyoukai and was not about to let her walk away from his protection. As he settled back into sleep he used his head to corral her into the corner created by his chest and right front leg and penned her in by laying his massive head on the leg, effectively narrowing her world done to just the two of them. Now with a better vantage point she ran her hands through the longer hair at the bottom of his jaw affectionately, forgetting completely the other presence in the dream and enjoying this first intimate contact with the most straight up frightening beings she had ever met. _He's actually kind of cute. Man, I canNOT believe that I am actually touching him, heck I'm not just touching him – I'm PETTING him. I hate to sound overly girly but – THIS IS SO TOTALLY AWESOME! I am almost positive that I am the only being to ever PET Sesshomaru! _

It was then that she felt Sesshomaru's mind opened to her, inviting her to share with him. She got up on her knees and tentatively passed her hand down the shorter fur of the upper jaw. She could sense that this invitation was monumental, a once in a lifetime opportunity that would change their relationship. She considered it for a moment while she petted him, _Am I ready to accept him? I already did – but this is something… more… this is…_

_He is accepting us back. He is making us family_. Kagome felt her avatar speak, and felt the weight of the word 'family'. It meant something different to that part of her, too. Suddenly, because it was a dream were reality has a different set of rules, her avatar was standing beside her petting the dog along with her. Megoka turned to Kagome and held out a lump to her. _This is what he is offering us. Do you understand?_

Kagome took the lump and looked at it, it was ugly and hard. She turned it over and looked at it from every angle. She looked up in question at her other self only to see Megoka look with great longing and affection and at the lump. Deciding that it was important she lifted the rock to her ear, and with dream-reasoning she knew that she held an very rough diamond (this dream was touched with a special magic, truth-speaking, and she could hear the stone speak its true identity to her). Then she got it, this was a representation of the bond between Sesshomaru and her, it had the potential to be dazzling but as it was it was new and raw and a little ugly and to find the treasure hidden within it would take time and effort, just like any relationship. And now, Sesshomaru was offering to honor their bond, offering to accept her as she had accepted him. He was offering the privilege on intimacy that is only for family.

Kagome felt her heart swell and because it made sense to her she put her forehead against the furry face before her as she pulled her avatar, her powers, back into herself and then push them into Sesshomaru with all her feelings of gratitude as she accepted his offer. Her avatar seemed to glow brighter and warmer as she felt the beast's energy flare and wrap around her and envelope her. _Family. Safe. Peace. Home…_

But the time for words was over, even between her selfs. Sesshomaru's beast rubbed against hers and seeming to have found the right resonance the two seemed to merge and his memories flowed into her mind.

She learned of his mother's fate, trapped and driven mad when she had no pup or mate to care for, and in that the nature of the daiyoukai. She heard Inu no Taisho's/Father's quiet voice and saw his tear stained face as he told his pup/Sesshomaru/her the tale. She felt his confusion, anger and heartbreak as if it were her own. She felt as he had retreated from the world, unable to understand why his father had left him when he most needed him, into a safer form. He become strong in a matter of weeks, years of maturation of his control and power in days so that all those concerned voices that tried to coax him out of his animal form became too weak to get past his beast's barriers little own try to influence him. It was moons and moons before that night when his father had finally returned. Sesshomaru's anger became her own anger and she felt the conflicting relief at Father's reappearance; he had left, he had been selfish, he had no right to look at us, Sesshomaru, that way; like we were pitiful. We were strong, we found our own strength, we would never be pitiful again. Still, when he scooped us up and held us to his chest where we could hear his heart beat and his beast, the only one powerful enough to overpower us now, flowed over and around us with love and worry and regret we felt comforted and safe. For months he kept us with him, allowed to sit on his lap, and he would absently stroke our fur. It felt so good. Each touch rebuilding the familial bond, each caress reaffirming our status as protected and loved child. That touch, how we missed that touch. As we grew older father became more and more engrossed in his work and we depended on our own strength, a quiet distance from everyone and everything. We earned respect and we were feared for our awesome power that continued to develop at an exceptional speed because we had little else that we would let distract us from our pursuit of perfection. We learned what it was to rule, to protect and manage the West, but still we treasured those times when father would pet us when it was just us, just family. Then our family was broken, stolen away by a worthless human that could never replace a lost mate and a half-breed that could never be a daiyoukai, a true brother. We had lost our family. We made due with pack; first there was Kyou who he had practically grown up with and who was his loyal general, as close to a friend as he had even through he was not an inu, but he was still a subordinate who always maintained that required distance. Then there was Ah-Un who had been with us since they hatched, we being the first thing it saw when it popped out of the shell and they have always followed us with utter devotion and obedience. Then the imp chose to follow us and eventually proved loyal and worthy enough for a place in our inner circle despite his weak nature. Recently there was the unexpected addition of the not-quite-human-anymore girl who had shown him compassion and the first truly pure and radiant smile he had ever seen directed at him. She was our first frivolity in life, something that we kept simply because it pleased us; she made us happy. Now, though, now we had found it again, family. Family meant safety and understanding and sharing and more meaning than words or even feelings seemed to be able to contain. And we had found it in a creature more unexpected, unusual and unpredictable than any other we had ever encountered; so powerful, gentle, fiery, pure, stubborn, affectionate, strange and accepting that we saw her as neither miko or human, she was just Kagome and she was family. She would give all those things that family meant, we were sure of it, and we would give them all right back. Just like with Father, she was petting us and it felt good and right and safe and we liked it very much.

Kagome came to herself with a start, she had gotten completely lost in the memory so that there was no separation between herself and Sesshomaru, it had become her own memory, her own feelings, her own knowledge and understanding. She found that she was indeed petting the white dog, but he was no longer his normal proportion to her, instead he was the size of a very large dog, like a Great Dane, to her human form. She knew that she had used her avatar and this strange space to grow so that she could offer comfort to Sesshomaru as he shared his most intimate details with her. She bent her body over the animal and wrapped her arms around its neck and gave it a comforting and reassuring hug. Hugs…

She wanted to treasure and honor their strange new bond that had so much potential, too. He had given her an intimate look into who he was and she could do no less. She opened her mind to Sesshomaru to share her memory of affectionate gestures and they walked through her memories this time, again as a single consciousness.

Daddy had died suddenly, an accident, and had left us when I was still very young, almost too young to remember anything about him. What I remembered more than the loss of Daddy was how it took away Mommy. Mommy had been there physically but for a long time after the funeral but she would stare through me, not really seeing me. Mommy had clung to the baby, Souta, instead, the last gift from Father, the one most like him. Mommy was always saying how Souta had Daddy's eyes and his smile and his chin; a copy of him that Mommy loved to hold and talk to and pay attention to. I was lonely. Then we moved in to Grandpa's. It was a big, strange place, full of weird smells and unusual things and he wasn't very good with kids for a long time. So I developed what became my own strength; compassion and a hyper-awareness of others. Mother was moody and easily broke down in tears so I learned to watch, to judge, to instinctively know what would and would not be good for Mother. I watched everyone and saw the emotions that they showed and those that they tried to hide. Even to my juvenile eyes I could see people in a way that most people never learned to. Not only did I master the art of observation and interpretation, I learned the power of my hugs and what would always make me different. I could calm a person's spirit with a hug. One afternoon shortly after the funeral Mom sat in front of the altar that held Father's picture and wept uncontrollably. I was still new to the demands of constantly being aware of everyone else's needs and let my child's heart direct my actions and I ran and embraced my mother in a hug, wishing with all my might that she would stop crying. She did. I felt something stir in my chest, I felt my spirit spread out from me to wrap around Mom's weeping form. I felt my spirit whisper to her. She quieted and hugged me back. She was by no means fixed, she had lost the love of her life, and that takes a lot out of a person. She has always been a little distant and still favors Souta. But she was without question a good, loving mother who did everything she could for me, she was just a little more distant – except when we hugged – then she opened herself to the calming effect of my spirit. And it wasn't only at home, at school and with friends too, I always felt different. There was something about me that didn't quite fit in with everyone else. I had flashes of instinct, intuition that made people uncomfortable. And there was something else, something indescribable that I felt and they felt that just made me something different, something other than what they were. At least I found some friends who were good enough to overlook it, but I knew they still felt it. I was just out of synch with the world. I never felt unloved or unwanted but I did feel like there was some place else in the world she was meant to be. I found it through a well and in the past with a dog-eared hanyou, a cantankerous old miko, an abandoned kitsune kit, a lecherous monk, a courageous slayer, a bold wolf prince, a comical set of wolf twins, a gentle giant horse hanyou, a mesmerizing bat girl, and dozens of other – and now a fearsome daiyoukai. This last one scared and satisfies me the most, he's a mystery to me still but I am a skilled and practiced observer and I could see it, easier thanks to the little, demented body, the things that he said without words. Now I see him, _really_ see HIM. This crazy adventure is not what I wanted to do but the best things in my life all seem to start out that way. I have come to love him in spite of the whole list of character flaws I could list off. But accepting someone after you know about all those flaws, that's love of a family and I can offer that. And I vowed to hug him, to share my peace with him, whenever the stubborn, chilly guy will let me.

Again their minds disentangled from one another.

"_There, now you know my story, too," _she thought at the slumbering giant whom she was still hugging. The dog but it had grown again to its traditional mammoth proportions so she stood between his paws and leaned into his massive chest with her arms spread wide as if she could embrace the whole package. She buried her face in the luscious wealth of soft fur knowing that he wouldn't mind the damp tears she left behind. _And I was afraid of getting caught up with another bunch of youkai and all their instinct-pack weirdness at the beginning of this mess, thought I could avoid it if I tried to keep perspective. Perspective, ha, I got quite the perspective going on now – front row seat to Sesshomaru Memory Production – and I'm handing out tickets to my own shows! But… I can't regret it. I haven't a clue what it means for all the other people in my life but I will not regret it. Sesshomaru, he needed – no we needed each other. I've never shared that with anyone, not Inuyasha, Sango, Eri, no one. No one's ever understood what made me different, always different and out of synch with everyone else, how did he get it? How did he know how to make me feel whole and really like me, the me I always wanted to be, the me that I always was. Am I becoming too much…other_?

_We have always been 'other', we just finally found another 'other'. Sometimes it takes seeing another of a like kind to understand what you yourself are. I mean, look at us, we are talking, you can hear and use me. That's not normal, but it is you. And it is Sesshomaru. We're not exactly the same but it's the closest we'll ever get, and we're both tired of being the only one – all four of both of us_.

_No, even if it wreaks havoc on every other aspect of my life we are 'family' in a way that even blood relatives aren't, in a youkai way. No, in a daiyoukai way. Now I have family and pack._ She realized that she felt content with that knowledge in a way that was again almost inhuman. An instinct satisfied, a purpose fulfilled and destiny met. Out loud she declared, "While its was far from normal, what anything I ever expected and probably most people's definition of sanity, it is absolutely, 100% me and I refuse to regret getting in up to my eyeballs with 'another bunch of youkai and all their instinct-pack weirdness'."

"If you do not regret it, then can you truly be angry at the god who set it in motion?"

She had forgotten that there was anyone else in the world but the two of them for a while. The voice came soft and gentle, a polite intrusion into her thoughts. "Did you get any of that? I don't think Sesshomaru would be very happy if you invaded our private moment. You know that this, me meaning something to him and all these 'lessons', won't really change him all that much – he'll still be Sesshomaru, the Killing Perfection, Lord of the West, daiyoukai. He still might try to kill you if he thinks you've offended him – and in this case I don't think that I would stop him, if you saw anything that is."

"Don't fret, little tree, I did not 'peep' on your private exchange. One of you alone is difficult enough for me to handle, the two of you together… I don't think even a god could break in to eavesdrop."

"Well, that's good," she replied as she gave one last stroke and set about to arrange herself for the undoubtedly long conversation to come. "Okay, now onto the real matter at hand. He's as calm as he's going to get so – who are you, how are you involved in all this and what do you want?"

"So straight forward you are, little tree, so forceful. I am Bokuseno and I am an ancient daiyoukai of the bough and root variety, a tree youkai, and a long time acquaintance of that pup and a friend of his father's and his father's father. I do have a hand in this little game that you are a player in. I am the most powerful youkai currently on this island, though yonder pup will probably surpass me if he manages to survive this, and I have pulled you into a dreamscape for a little questioning. That arrogant god thought that he would just send you along to me in my forest when you're done with the little girl but I am powerful enough, and you are receptive enough, to avoid that unnecessary step. But I did want to see for myself the petal that the wind whispered about the pup picking up and to see that the pup has indeed taken to his lessons. And what do I find here in my little dream world that exposes true feelings? Not a delicate little petal at all! You are a strapping young tree with a core of inner strength and heart and mind that is flexible. You have the stuff to weather out the toughest storms and the potential to outgrow even my ancient self. As for the pup, I dare say he has already matured far beyond my wildest imagination. While you are correct in saying that this experience won't change who he is, it has already given his some nice adjustments… think of him as a bonsai. It is still a tree but branches are trimmed and wires used to shape it into something that is more refined and beautiful, but it remains a tree always. What I want is to see this pup grow into the potential he was born with and it that seems to be requiring a not so gentle nudge in the right direction."

Kagome had climbed up to sit at the spot where Sesshomaru's leg stuck out from under his chest, and she could lean back because Sesshomaru's head was right there, so that she was essentially witting in a Sesshoamru chair. She had closed her eyes and relaxed into him, feeling a smidgen tuckered out, while she listened to the tree speak. (_At this rate I will never be awake for a full day, I'm going to be so tired when I wake up I'm going to crash in less then eight hours!_) She didn't blink an eye at the fact that it was the tree was speaking to her, she was just thankful that she knew a little more of what was going on and why. (_Okay, maybe not why exactly, but at least I don't feel as lost_.) "So, you're satisfied with his progress – I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that. Do you, by any chance, have another piece to add to our unnecessarily complicated Sesshomaru puppy puzzle?"

"Oh, I like you, little tree. You are a supremely unique creature. Has he heard you call it that?" At her nod his laugh boomed around her again. "I don't know which to be more surprised with, that he accepted you or that didn't kill you before he came around. You won't have to come to visit me for my 'piece' of your 'Sesshomaru-puppy puzzle' but I do hope that someday you will come to visit. Here you are, little tree, share it with the pup when you wake: Poor little puppy who lost his ears, cast adrift from among home pack and peers; look to the green fields sown with loyalty's seeds, follow the follower to see here he leads."

"Why don't they ever make sense? Can you give me any kind of hint…" she pleaded finally opening her eyes.

"Sorry, little tree, I can't say anything specifically, but I will say that you've already made the biggest connection, you just forgot. Good-bye now, remember to visit me someday."

Far away a strong wind blew through Bokuseno's branches at the arrival of the god.

"Arrogant, am I?"

"Immensely so. I agree with that little tree, though, you best watch out; pulling that pup's tail is indeed quite dangerous, especially if she decides to side with him. You think that he will become more docile with this taming, but I can tell you from experience that in not how dais respond to family. It has been my roots and my magic that have been the bars that have imprisoned the dais after they have mated and produced offspring for millennia, I have heard their screams and felt their anguish. Even for a simple sister they can become a force to rival even a god. "

"Speaking of which – for your price you wanted to be freed from your responsibility of being your races' prison. Very well, if he is able to figure out your riddle and find the one who loves him and get the appropriate mark of affection then I will take care of all daiyoukai mating separation issues in the future. Though I must say it doesn't seem like you have had much demand for your services recently. There are only five of you dais left on this island and the number on the continent has been halved with this past dynasty. I fear that you are a dying breed, youkai in general, but I am fond of your kind." The god patted the gargantuan truck and looked off into the distance with a vague smile brushing his lips. "Hopefully my interference will help save you all…"

"Yes, youkai lack something that seems to be needed as our world changes and continues to do so. Do you think that you can teach that pup such a trick?"

"Don't you see, he already has shown that he has that special quality that so many of you lack. Look at his pack. Its what drew my eye to him in the first place, all those different types - and then when he added that cute little girl I set about finding all of you who would help me create this opportunity for growth. The ultimate trick is one that he already knows. He is the key to change. He refuses to be bound by all those traditions and he's powerful enough to get away with it. Too many of your kind are too proud and too arrogant and too old-fashioned to be adaptable. Humans have this quality in spades and that is why their numbers keep increasing and the power of the world is shifting in their favor. Stagnant things are meant to die, life is meant to be a dynamic, complex system with all the features of one and youkai culture has closed itself off to new energy. That dog, though, and that human; they are open to new energies, they surround themselves with such a variety of folks – and add in all that power – and they can change the world."

"You sound like a philosopher rather than a deity."

"To try and trap it, this world and the many destinies and wills of its occupants, like some of my fellows might would close the system off and we would have the stagnation problem. So philosophy and stirring sticks are my best weapons."

"As one of your chosen stirring sticks and a member of this world I thank you for your concern and care. Personally, I thank you for taking my burden, I hope that you do not regret it as I have."

The god closed his own eyes and took a deep breath of the clean air before disappearing to stir another pot.

The ancient tree went to sleep where the wind whispered all the tales from all the inhabitants that walked the earth into his braches and the water that circulated through out the world in its many form brought him the knowledge of all the land, far and wide, and of all things that grew and dwell in the ground and seas gossiped through his roots.

****Author's Note****

I know that this chapter seemed a little redundant but there was no way it was letting me get away without writing it – I swear this story has a mind of its own. The next several chapters will have a lot more action. Also, I hope that the personal pronoun shifts weren't too difficult to follow; it was the only way I could show how close the mental bonding process. Thanks for reading. Read and review if you get the chance, I love to hear from you!


	19. Chapter 19

Frog Prince: Chapter 19

_You are worried that you will do or say something to frighten our little sweetling away. She is made of stronger stuff than that and you know it. Perhaps you're just afraid of embarrassing yourself…_ His beast purred to let him know that there was no lying to yourself, at least not this time.

_Yes, well, I have rarely needed to practice dealing with anyone that had any sort of relationship of equality. With other dias its like a dance of diplomacy and posturing, and with my pack I am without question alpha, with my subjects I am superior and to everyone else I am simply dangerous. Even with other family I have only ever been son to a father. _

_Oh, really?_ There was a tone in the voice in his head that indicated that it did not believe him and he refused to think of the reason for that. He had no other family since his father died for a pitiful woman and her pitiable child.

Choosing to ignore that line of conversation Sesshomaru turned back to his thoughts of plans that he had been working on for when the girl finally regained consciousness. He had been debating about how to handle his new relationship with the girl for the several as he watched her sleep. He knew that somehow his dreaming self had twined with hers. While he was certain there was an unusual amount of the dream that he was not recalling he held the memory of having shared with her his life and she offered her own memories, feelings and all, just as freely and with that sharing both had acknowledged and accepted the potential of their bond. It was a rare occurrence but not completely unheard of among familial groups, the sharing of dreams and intimate memories, though he was surprised that it had happened so soon after the bond was formed and between members of different species.

The shared memories gave him inspiration for his interaction dilemma; they were both fast learners so he could focus on teaching her, he'd been doing it all along (_Yes, isn't interesting that you choose to teach her long before she was supposedly anything to you. Have you ever taught anyone else anything, ever?_).

Ignoring the intrapersonal commentary he continued to review the soundness of his plan one last time before implementing it. He had instincts that would dictate some of his actions and reactions with the girl but nowhere near all of them and as reluctant as he was to admit any shortcomings on his behalf it was hard to deny that he was not the best at interpersonal relationships. So to avoid potential awkwardness he was going to avoid his weak point, communication, and focus on his strong point, action. He was going to take a page from the wolf pack young-rearing practices: throw them off a cliff and see if they can make it back in one piece. While he hated to admit anything positive about the mangy canines they did tend to be strong and resourceful individuals. Besides, this plan would get them moving again and onto the quest to reclaim the rest of his stolen bits and pieces, something that was still very much as the front of his mind despite the monkey wrench the strange girl threw into his life.

_Hehe, yes, she does seem to have a special knack for unprecedented meddling. I like this plan, it will be fun and I expect she will surprise us. She always does._ His beast rumbled a playful growl in anticipation of having someone to play with, someone worth playing with, strong and unexpected and... _Ours. So onto the proverbial throwing off of the cliff of the young, untrained pup... _

Sesshomaru approached the twins and touched Un's muzzle and issued his orders. Both of the dragon heads began to sway back and forth in hesitation that bordered on refusal. He had expected this, of course they wouldn't want to do this to their Affectionate Girl, but he was alpha and they would obey. Without his youki he was still at a disadvantage so he had to stay in constant contact with the beast to force it to obey against several of its other instincts. He reached out and placed his hand on the beast's chest, easily reached despite his diminutive stature because the beast still sat in the same place it had for nearly a full day, with the human girl sleeping soundly against their warm side. The muscles shuddered under his hand as Sesshomaru's beast roared his superiority through their minds. "_I am Master. Obey me_."

"Ah, yes, yes. Master. Master is Master and we are Master's dragon. But mistress…" Ah bowed his head and said while his brother, the more bold of the two, looked their master in the eyes and spoke at the same time, "Un, Master, we obey, always, but Affectionate Girl is…"

His beast growled in warning and he pressed his will hard into the creatures. _Damn that stupid girl, these are MY dragons, MY pack, and still they resist this much after just one day and one night with her. _

Finally the beast was dominated and rose from its protective embrace of their mistress. She fell away, stirring slightly but not waking. Her sleeping bag, which Sesshomaru had draped over her at his beast's and instincts' insistence, slid off her shoulder. They took a small handful of steps away from the sleeping girl, limited in their movement by the holy barrier that was still buzzing at full strength around them, and bent to their knees and allowed their tiny master to climb on their backs and twist his tiny hands, one on each neck, in their bushy manes.

"Wake up." Sesshomaru demanded and a loud voice. _Wow, is this why Jaken is always so loud? These little bodies might not be good for much but they can produce amazing volume! I always thought it was a purposeful annoyance tactic. Hn._

Kagome sat up almost immediately looking around for the danger. "Why –? Who –? Wha – ?" As she got to her feet, saw her barrier still in place she looked at him on Ah-Un and finally settled on a confused and slightly irritated, "What?"

_She does not appear to be a morning person. _

_Who is when awoken like that?_

_Hn. _"Prepare yourself."

She looked at him as if he had grown a second head and had several false starts before throwing her hands in the air and asking, "For what? I am freakin' exhausted, I can barely stand."

"Yes, when you first start to use your beast – "

"Avatar, please, I'm not a youkai, so it's not a beast. I mean, it even looks like me so I decided to call it an avatar." She looked quite proud of herself and he let it go, it did not have the form of an animal so it made sense and a different label wouldn't change anything.

" – avatar you become tired; it's like developing muscle strength, the muscle hurts and resists further training but it is necessary. Your avatar takes your energy and drains you mentally and physically. Until you have fully developed its powers and increased your constitution and stamina you will be tired and desire sleep. Eventually, though, you will require much less sleep in general, most likely, like powerful youkai. However, you are still training, a process I plan on continuing immediately. Prepare yourself."

She gaped at him, her eyes nearly as bulbous as his current ones, as she comprehended the twinkle of anticipated violence in his eyes. "Oh no, you wouldn't."

"Oh yes, I am. Keep in mind that healing is also a valuable lesson."

"Healing?" Again he watched as the comprehension dawned in her mind. "As in – I might get hurt!"

He was done, he had given her more than enough warning, any injury she sustained was due to her own slowness – which was a problem that he was hoping to rectify. He gave his dragons a countdown: 3 – 2 – 1 – fire.

Kagome proved to be an apt pupil for Sesshomaru methods. She had pulled her barrier back into herself, and was glowing a soft pink as she ran at inhuman speeds out of the cave mouth and half way up the path between 'one' and 'fire'. She wasn't even aware she was capable of what she had just done; the surprise was painted across her face as she stopped and turned back to where the dragons were standing outside of their den with Sesshomaru on their back. He had thought that he had seen the widest her eyes could go but he was wrong.

"Holy moly! Did I just – wait – what's that smell?"

"_3 – 2 – 1 – fire_!" Sesshomaru instructed.

This time she was gone on 'two' and shouting over her shoulder "If you just hibachi-ed my sleeping bag I am going to be PISSED!"

He watched her as she disappeared into brush at the top of the path. She would have been better off if she had gone down but he was sure that she would turn around when she realized that that was in fact the end (or beginning, depending on how you looked at) of the path. Above Ah-Un's private den there was only wilderness and a few wild dragons.

Ah-Un's den was on the northernmost edge of Sesshomaru's personal territory which was situated to the north of his palace and surrounded by high mountains. They were here and not in the palace was because the other dragons in his stables would not tolerate the mutation, their instincts refused to accept him despite his other superior aspects, simply because he was born with two heads. Sesshomaru had appreciated the unique dragon from the moment he had seen them hatched and made sure that they had a place close to him. So Ah-Un had his place here where no one, not even the wild dragons that occupied the surrounding mountains, would chance pissing off the amazingly strong and territorial daiyoukai or chancing a run-in with one of the. Only pack was allowed here. Sesshomaru took a moment to consider the fact that Ay-Un brought Kagome here, to this personal and private space. _At times they display a strange intuition; somehow they knew that she was pack, MY pack before I did._

The dragon's actions worked out well, it gave him a safe place to be and the area was more or less safe for his still fragile new human family-pack which gave him the perfect place to test her abilities and the extent of her training/instincts while moving her towards their destination – his palace and Rin, the next part to his puzzle. But she demonstrated her amazing unpredictability by choosing to start out by taking the harder route: up the mountain. It was the wrong direction – and she didn't seem to be coming back. He would give her a three minute head start, waiting the whole time for her to realize her error and reemerge. _Sense of direction = very poor. Really, who goes uphill when down is available?_

_Our Kagome._

_You are enjoying this entirely too much._

_You are too and don't deny it, you love the chase as much as me. Admit it, we both love the thought of tracking this little sweetling. _

_I do not think I like the tone. _He would admit no such thing, even if it was the truth, but that tone…

_Too long…_ his beast whined and his chest tightened with their shared anxiety.

Following her path was easy enough, but this was training and he wanted her to grow from the experience, so he gave the hint at what he was following this time to see if she could pick up on – he asked Ah-Un to both sniff loudly before following her, on foot, into the shrubs as they turned into twisted trees as the elevation increased. Just before they burst into the clearing she had paused in he made them sniff again loudly. As the passed the last tree trunk he saw his chest eased to see her whole and her eyes flash in angry amusement at him and she stuck her tongue out at him before she scrabbled over the nearest bush. The bush disintegrated into nothingness and big round eyes peeked back over her retreating shoulder showing fear and an understanding that it was a game but one with potentially serious consequences – her rubber shoes had melted slightly where it was still a little too close to the poor plant.

This time he gave her a two minute head start. With a big sniff from the twin heads as she scampered off further up the mountain and then again when they moved he trusted the dragon's sense of smell in place of his own. This time they found her faster, she seemed to be having a hard time concentrating on both moving and thinking. _Another thing to work on_…

He moved the dragons around to cut off her movement further up the mountain; that was not the direction he wanted her to go. They were almost at the peak and he knew that there was where the wild dragon's matriarch made her den so that she could keep an eye on the closest and most dangerous threat to her and her brood – him, Sesshomaru, and even he did not want to mess with that particular dragon.

As he directed the dragon around the tree which blocked her from view he again gave the hint of a deep sniff. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes, he saw her eyes focus on the snouts of his mount and then she smile mischievously. "Scent, huh. Okay, I can get around that – I think." She smiled, she knew it was a game, a training game, and the game was on!

"Fast enough?" The simple question had the panic back in her eyes. Ah-Un heard the mental countdown between their beast, 3 – 2 – 1 – Fire! Sesshomaru heard a sharp intake of breath and a hiss of pain and his chest constricted in an unfamiliar way.

"_Ah, no more, she is hurt now_." Ah communicated to Sesshomaru and Un backed his brother up, "_Un, her leg burned_."

"_She managed to get away well enough. She is fine. Pain is a wonderful motivator. Next time, though, be very careful_." Only giving a one minute head start this time he set off again on the dragons to follow her trail.

He was extremely pleased when a dozen meters into the brush her scent disappeared. She had figured out how to wrap her powers in a film around her body to seal in her scent. Ah-Un sniffed several times and reported finding nothing. She is a fast learner. Lesson one down. "See if she figured out that scent isn't the only thing we can follow, find her aura," he instructed the dragon.

He felt a strange sensation as his own awareness went out with the dragons' youki. He had never piggy-backed on another's power: first, he had never been without his own superior senses and second, he had never been linked closely enough with another to have experienced it. He realized that, while not a familial bond, his pack bond with the dragons had grown stronger and it gave him more control over them. He felt in return the dragons' complete trust in him and their absolute devotion to him that would never fail him. The sudden intimacy also made him realize that he trusted the dragon not only with his lives of his pack, Rin, Jaken and Kyou but also with his own, and more impressively with that of his family, Kagome. He felt the pack magic weave another strand and tie the three of them tighter. The magic was a two way street. Intuition flared, _Give and take, mutual feelings, magic binding and unbinding…Interesting…_

But he was distracted from further thought by the surprising stupidity of the human girl. She had started off away from them, down the mountain, but seemed to have doubled back and was heading directly towards the matriarch's den.

_Self-Preservation Instincts = Very Bad, _he thought glumly. _Lesson two also mastered, too back she decided to work on her speed while heading TOWARDS danger. She's almost at the den_. With his beast alternating between whining with worry and growling at the potential threat and his chest tightening to a painful degree he commanded his mount, "Hurry. Fly. Fast."

_Must protect! Need claws, teeth, poison, power –we need to be our namesake – the Killing Perfection. Now. We need to get to her, our family, our Kagome…_

Panic was not an emotion Sesshomaru was used to but through Ah-Un he could feel the matriarch's call to the wild dragons of the mountain as Kagome, with her overly large miko aura, invaded her territory. He heard the answering cries of the dragons echo off the surrounding mountains and it sent a chill down his spine. Over a dozen wild beasts were screaming their hunting cries as they were called to kill his family, and he had almost no power to stop it. He was about to lose what he had only just found again and she still thought it was a game. He had cursed the ones responsible for his misfortune many times in the past two weeks but he had never meant it more than he did at that moment. Desperation and helplessness were an even more foreign to him but he was becoming very intimate with them as they caused adrenaline to course through his body and his beast howl in frustration._ If she dies because I was not strong enough, because I forced her to run…_

Ah-Un, understanding what the matriarch's call meant and they knew Master's and their own feelings about Affectionate Girl. Sharing in their rider's panic and apprehension they roared in challenge as it took to the sky to reach the peak before something horrible happened. But they knew the futility of their actions, they would not be fast enough. Their wild cousins obeyed only the matriarch and if she thought Kagome was a threat all eighteen of her brood they felt answering the matriarch's call would attack Kagome without a moment's hesitation and would fight until their last breath for their dam. Their new mistress was strong, but too kind and too untrained, she would most likely be beyond rescue by the time they arrived.

Both creatures, two bodies and four minds, were in complete agreement as they flew brashly towards the screeches that tore through the mountain air, they would follow her.

X – X – X – X –X – X – X – X

The scene that met Sesshomaru when he reached the peak stopped him and his mount in their tracks. Sesshomaru had never been caught slack jawed before, but this human miko was teaching him all sorts of new tricks. At least he could blame the bugged eyes on his imp body.

Kagome was petting the scaly red snout of the matriarch dragon that was three times the size of Ah-Un with a dozen other dragons of regular proportion and a multitude of colors gathered around her all trying to nuzzling her. The giant matriarch gently butted her head into Kagome's shoulder, which with their size difference meant that the tip of the snout rammed into Kagome's entire upper right side throwing her off balance and into the dragons behind her. She laughed and pushed off the green dragon behind her, laughing and reached up with both hands and started scratching the red head.

"Oh, you, silly girl. You have to be careful with us weaker species. You'll break me if you're not careful. Come here and let me scratch that spot behind your ear. You like that, don't you, yeah you do. Good girl, what a good girl." The human cooed at the deadly creature.

The giant head kept its eyes closed as Kagome climbed up her leg and neck like a little monkey to scratch the spot behind her ear, an ear which was as long the girl's thigh. While she was balanced there, clinging to her coarse mane hair, the matriarch's eyes opened to slits and regarded the levitating dragon and its tiny burden.

Kagome's head shot up and she paused in her ministrations, she looked at the floating pair and then back to the giant eye that had turned up towards her. "Oh, yeah, I know them… Yeah, that's him. I'm surprised that you recognize them… Oh, she's been watching you since you were a wee little thing bounding about in the hills down below," Kagome's address and gaze shifted from the dam to Sesshomaru. He could tell that her thoughts had shifted completely to him when her brows came down over her eyes and her body language shouted, **You are in serious trouble, mister**. "She thought I was invading her territory and was ready to eat me. EAT ME! And look at her, she totally could – one bite and I'd be GONE! You knew she was up here! I could have died!"

Her ever shifting emotions and her unfathomable feats left him speechless as he stared at her, completely at home climbing on an ancient beast that would make him in his full glory think twice. He would never allow anyone to else to berate him in such a manner, not even her under most circumstances, but just now he was too relieved to see her alive to do more than grunt his customary, "Hn."

"Yeah, 'hn'. You're just lucky that I've always been good with animals. She was all like 'ROAR' and I was all 'WOAH' and then there were lots of hissing all around and I was sure I was going to die but I just kept looking at this big girl here." Kagome words flowed fast and furious out of her mouth, forgetting her anger in the excitement of her recollection. "Then I did what you told me to do with Ah-Un – they look an awful lot alike, but not the same, are they related? – and I reached out with my avatar and I felt her – this big girl here, not my avatar, of course I felt that her but ... We fought just like you and me did that time but she's not strong as you and I won. Now she's as sweet as those two rascals over there." She said with an affectionate nod towards the still hovering two-headed dragon. She took a deep breath, her first since she started, "And…"

She was definitely riding out an adrenaline rush but he couldn't blame her, she had just tamed a wild dragon matriarch. She had just done something few others could ever accomplish. A wild dragon is nothing like the ones that have been tamed and kept by youkai society for millennia; they were unruly creatures that resisted domestication fiercely. An ancient dragon that was the matriarch of a large herd would not submit easily. It would have taken an amazingly powerful creature with a strong will and a gentle spirit coupled with that indefinable something that animals judge as worthy to follow for such a wild beast as this red giant to succumb to. Only Kagome.

"Now she says that all of her children, all these guys, will help me if I ever need it. I told her she was silly but she's so sweet that I just love her. She says I can stay here for now and that she won't let me get hurt. Speaking of which – WHAT THE HELL! That freakin' hurt! My leg has blisters on it, thank you very much. I know that Ah and Un would not have done it if you hadn't been forcing them to. I get the whole tough-love approach but that was damn close."

_Does she ever breathe?_

_Think of Rin, they have some surprising similarities, it could be like this for a while_… Still he was unreturned. His chest had eased of most its tension and the pain that had gripped his heart relaxed as he watched her ramble and rant. She was loud, spastic and overly emotional – she was Kagome – and that made him very… happy.

_And she is strong, very strong_, his beast purred in contentment, _she's has many weaknesses but she has areas that even we cannot compare with. She proves again and again that she is worthy_.

_Worthy?_

"Sesshomaru, pay attention when I am yelling at you. Geez, you are just like a mean big brother. You only ever pick on me and then ignore me the rest of the time. Whatever. Do you want to stay here so I can heal or are you going to be overly cruel and make me walk down the mountain like this. She told me your personal territory borders hers to the south and that your castle is several kilometers south of here. I take it that is where we were heading. I probably went the wrong way, but now I have a new friend, so it's all good." she said with a pat to the giant neck she was straddling.

Sesshomaru would not regret her burn, he could see it just fine and while it was blistered it wasn't life threatening. If he could teach her how to heal she would be completely fine in less than five minutes. He considered his options and the blood red eyes that were considering him intently. If Kagome had indeed tamed the beast then he could trust the beast to leave him alone, if the control was not complete then there could be some trouble – some undoubtedly bloody trouble.

As if she sensed his hesitation and moment of almost fear the monstrous creature jerked her head towards them, extending her neck to its full length without yet moving her legs and snapped her jaws in warning. It was impressive as warning went and Ah-Un were adequately cowed. They shrank back and the red dragon seemed to sense the weakness and moved in to attack. With a flexing of formidable wills both riders controlled and calmed their beasts, Kagome on the matriarch and Sesshomaru on the mutant dragon. Sesshomaru was sure that if Kagome could stop the ancient beast from attacking when it saw a mutation, which she would instinctively want to destroy, who was also showing weakness then Kagome had complete control over her.

_Such a formidable woman_, Sesshomaru thought, finding it pleasing and reassuring.

Again his beast had a strange purr in its voice when it said, _Yes, she is, isn't she._

Ignoring it he focused on Kagome who was sliding her way down the massive mounts neck and side. She walked around so she was staring the red dragon straight in the eye with her hands on her hips and chastising her, "That is not allowed. Ah and Un have saved me before and I like them. You will never hurt them. Am I clear?" She turned in a circle to take in all the dragons standing around her as she raised her voice and issued her commands to all of them. "All of you – you are NOT to hurt him. And name calling counts, I can hear you, you know, and I don't like names like that – at least not when they are said in that tone. Yes he is different from you but that doesn't make him less than you…"

As she continued to lecture the wild herd with words and sooth them with her aura he recalled the panic that had gripped his chest at the thought of her running into the monster at the top of the mountain that edged his personal getaway. The matriarch had always been something of a boogey man to him, a fear from when he was still too young to have faced the monster and survived without his father's protection, she was a lingering ghost of his childhood insecurities that had persisted subconsciously – and this woman had walked straight up here and befriended the thing. He forced Ah-Un to land despite their resistance, they were not well tolerated by other dragons and they did not want to set down in a whole ring of the wild variety (Kagome was not speaking so that they could _hear_ her). With his newly discovered closeness with the his pack's dragon and Kagome's shining example of what affection can win you right in front of him he allowed himself to indulge the dragon's insecurities (and him own, but he wasn't admitting that and his beast was wisely keeping quiet – for once), "Do you think your mistress would ever let any harm come to you when she is around?"

"Ah." Ah sighed with relief and relaxed while Un answered, "Un, no, never. Affectionate Girl/Mistress very kind."

As if proof to the conviction of the three Kagome was soon pushing her way through the prodding snouts of the matriarch's brood and making her way to the twins. Guiltily they hung their heads, waiting for the reprimand for their having hurt her (though Un was more worried, it was his blast that had gotten a little too close). Kagome pulled their heads up with a firm hand under their jaws and rubbed her face against their smooth, scaly faces like an affectionate cat. She said to them through her avatar, "_Don't worry guys, I know what was going on. You feel bad about hurting me and that's good enough. If I were to be mad at anyone it wouldn't be you, and don't tell Sesshomaru but I'm not even really mad at him either. I've seen him with Inuyasha, I don't think the guy could do normal family time if he was forced to watch all the seasons of Full House – there's an idea for torture, Sesshomaru watching the Olson twins and not being allowed to kill them… Anyhow, I get that it's his way of showing he cares, just don't tell him I know, I want to harass him at least a little for almost getting me fried – and eaten_."

What Kagome didn't know was that Sesshomaru was actually still listening in. He heard it and he relaxed at her understanding, then immediately tensed again – _does that mean she thinks that I care for the half breed?_

_***Author's Note***_

_Just started working two jobs, so I'm working about 70 hours a week and driving over an hour and a half to and from each day so I don't know how consistent I'll be getting the next couple of chapters out but I'll try to keep it to weekly but I can't guarantee anything._

_Also, a thank you to all those who have reviewed this story, I do appreciateitI, A LOT. Thank you __**chavy c**__ and __**SammyKoru**__ my new reviewers; __**iheartanime43**__ and __**super1**__ - always nice to hear from repeat reviewers; __**Terrygurl**__ you had a very encouraging review. A special thanks to __**Lina03**__, your review came at the end of a very tough day and was the pick-me-up I needed. Last but not least, __**Readalot-TMB**__, I might post this on Dokuga when it's all done – thanks for the recommendation and the encouragement. I love reviews so please take a moment to say something. Thanks. _


	20. Chapter 20

Okay, I started to write a recap of everything that has happened and it was really, REALLY long. So the short version: Sesshomaru's cursed into a creature like Jaken, Kagome gets enlisted to help, they travel and get familiar with each other, Kikyo shows up and gives them a clue about what's going on, Inuyasha shows up pissed that Kagome's been kidnapped, Ah-Un rescues them and takes them to their den, Sesshomaru introduces Kagome to her inner self (avatar; Megoka) and teaches her to use her powers to talk with the twins, Sesshomaru gets his beast back from Ah-Un who love him as their master, the ghost of Inu no taisho shows up and gives another clue, Sesshomaru and Kagome's inner selves fight to a draw for dominance and with Kagome's crazy total acceptance and Sesshomaru's beast's instincts they end of forming a familial bond, Bokuseno tests their bond and gives them a clue in a dream, Kagome is woken up and more or less attacked by Ah-Un at Sesshomaru's orders and as she runs away she learns how to better use her powers, she ends up at the top of the mountain that she shouldn't be on and tames a very large dragon Martiarch.

Like I said, that's the super short version. If you need a more detailed recap you'll just have to go back and read on your own. I can't believe I've written so much already and he only has one attribute back…

**Frog Prince: Chapter 20**

Kagome was both proud of herself and mortified. She had lasted much longer than she would have ever dreamed possible – seemed that a small measure of Sesshomaru's lessons from the past three days had aided her in keeping her calm and focusing her mind – but there was only so much you could do about a phobia.

_It's just dark. It's just dark. It's just dark._

_And we HATE the dark! We are TERRIFIED of the dark!_

_It's okay, it's okay, it's okay._

_Who are you trying to convince. We both know it's not__._

_It has to be. Do you really want to disappoint Sesshomaru? He was surprisingly patient as a teacher, but you saw him, he was practically running after we left the twins and the tag-along dragon back in that clearing. He has a goal and you know how a dog on a trail is – think of Inuyasha on the hunt of a shard – and think of the things he would say when we had a legitimate reason to distract him. How much more upset will Sesshomaru be if we keep him from his – what the heck was it that Rin is suppose to have of his – I can't remember – ARGH!_

_Okay, okay. I remember this one – its his.. ears__._

_No, the weird dream tree said that one. Rin has his teeth. Yeah, that's just perfect. What will he do when he gets said teeth if I have a mental break down here? Even family turns on each other when they've had to much, right, and something tells me something silly like being afraid of the dark like a two year old might just qualify as too much after all the help and patience he's had with me recently. I do not want to see Sesshomaru when he hits "too much"._

_Ooh, that might get …bloody. Keep talking to me and we might just avoid it. How long did he say this secret passage was?_

_A mile._

_A mile! But at this rate that will take…_

_Um, yeah, a long time. [*giggle, a little on the hysterical side*] I can't see. _

_I can't see, either. _

_We learned so many tricks, why can we see in the dark like him._

_He's a dog, we are not. You can only enhance what you already have and all you have is me and I'm your deepest, truest feelings and let me tell you – YOU DO NOT LIKE THE DARK__!_

_Why can't I have super night vision? I need it now. I want it now... I can't do this._

_We can. We have to. You don't want to the weakest link this time__. _

_Yeah, if he said "Good-bye" I think it might actually kill me, if he didn't do it himself. Why am I always such a mess? Why can't I just hold it together?_

_That's not helping._

Kagome had continued the inner dialogue for almost five minutes. It had been three minutes since the last of the light disappears around the first bend in the tunnel and it had felt longer than any other three minutes of her life – heck the three minutes felt like it was as long as the entire length of life that she had llived up to this point again – see there, she just passed up her 14th birthday – thirty more seconds and she'd be pulling that arrow out of Inuyasha's chest...

Kagome had a deep dark secret – she was nyctophobic. She had a pathological fear of the dark. She knew that it was silly, she tried to pretend like it didn't bother her, she tried to act like the young adult that she was, but like any other phobia there was no reasoning it out; it was just fear, panic and terror and it was currently threatening to overwhelm her. Most of the time it wasn't really dark-dark so she was able to manage, but still she rarely went anywhere without both a flashlight with fresh batteries and a candle with matches, both of which had tumbled out of her pack onto Inuyasha when Ah-Un had kinda-rescued her.

This tunnel was different than the woods at night, it was an underground maze with absolutely no light. Even Sesshomaru, with his hyper-acute vision, was walking just ahead of her with his hand touching the wall. She took another step while listening intently to the flap – flap –flap of Sesshomaru's floppy feet of the hard packed earth. It was the only thing that was keeping her from running, screaming and crying, into the dark – Sesshomaru was there and it was going to be okay. Flap – flap – flap –

Something hit her face and it was more than her fragile state of mind could handle. She let out a horrified screech and began to run with her instincts screaming in pure animalistic fear, heart pounding as adrenaline pumping through her veins and panic overwhelming her reasoning processes.

She got a couple of steps when something touched and then grabbed her leg. She started screaming even more hysterically and flailing about. It was on her leg and it was attacking her. She had lost the duel consciousness when the survival instinct had pushed the two into one for more efficiency and power and right at the moment the whole of her being was saying **GET AWAY!**

She felt as if she was being smothered and fought back, not only with her arms and legs but with her aura. She heard a strange grunt and the bulge attached to her leg and she felt something slimy and cold creeping up her pant leg. New panic dumped a fresh load of fight or flight hormones into her blood and she opened her mouth to roar in challenge as she switched completely over to fight mode.

And suddenly she was fighting, really fighting, with her opponent circling and racing in towards her looking for an opening, brushing against different parts of her trying to get at her. She felt the long hair of a creature brush her arm and face as it tried to close its mouth around her left wrists that was outstretched in attack and left vulnerable. She felt as the sharp teeth cut like razor blades over the tendons on the underside of her wrist near her hand as she jerked it away. She balled up her fists and began to beat at the air around her, beyond the point of worrying about bleeding. She only knew that there was something dangerous out there in the dark and it was after her. She fought and fought, working out of the most basic of human emotions – fear of the big bad monster in the dark and the desperate passion to stay alive a little bit longer.

Finally, after several minutes of blind fighting she heard her name called. She paused and she heard it again. Out of the dark she heard Sesshomaru's voice calling out her name calmly and with a touch of firmness. She stopped her wild swings, chest heaving, and listened for it again.

"Kagome."

"Sesshomaru?"

She heard a giant huffing sigh that sounded a bit odd for the little toad in the darkness and when the voice came again she was sure heard his relief. "Be calm, little one. I am going to touch you."

"Sesshomaru?" she questioned again but with more confidence, after such a fright it's not always the easiest thing to accept that help has actually arrived. _Little one? He's the little one, this time._ "Is the monster gone?"

"Hn." She smiled to herself, she had heard that particular 'hn' a lot recently. It was odd to think that something that was more or less a grunt of noncommittal reply could have tone but it did, and this particular on was the "teacher with a dense student" tone that she had been on the receiving end of enough in the past few days to know that he was displaying his newly acquired (or at least newly revealed) patience. "Reach out your hand; I am coming towards you now."

She did as instructed, trusting Sesshomaru, and waited for the contact of the little bony, slimy digits and though of how her perception of Sesshomaru had changed in just a couple of days. Touching, physical contact, was something she had always assumed foreign to Sesshomaru, but it had actually become a common occurrence between the two of them since the incident with the Matriarch. It was rarely anything obvious or overt, generally just a brush of his hand along whatever part of her was close to his hand, almost as if he were just reassuring himself that she was still there. Then there was the occasional – handholding.

Handholding sounded so 'date-y' and that wasn't at all what it was like, but it was hand holding. He would reach up his hand and wait for her to move hers into his. It was his invitation to – touch. Touch? That sounded so lame, again, even to her, she lacked the right words for what it really was. It was all instinct and familial bonding that just sounded weird or wrong to her human perception of reality but felt completely natural in her heart of hearts, even if all of her still rebelled at a the thought of a touchy-feely Sesshomaru. Still in the act of reach out to the offered hand and taking it she was accepting his invitation to touch spirits, souls, or whatever you want to call their beast and avatar and their most intimate selves. The physical contact, the handholding, let Sesshomaru's beast and her avatar make contact, to touch, brush against each other; to check in on each other, to feel the other in a way that satisfied a strange need that they both seemed to feel, not just physical affirmation but soul and spirit contact. The contact was brief outside of when she would sleep (that was an entirely different something), but it was intimate beyond almost anything two people could do short of a really dazzling homerun (not that she would know, but, come on, who doesn't think about it…). She had even reached her hand out for his on occasion, feeling the overwhelming need to connect with him.

Other times that hand to hand, spirit to spirit, mind to mind connection was an easy means of sharing something; a knowledge of a technique for using a power that Sesshomaru was trying to teach or a mental image of a skyscraper that Kagome just couldn't find the words to explain while she chatted (the cat was most definitely out of the bag on that one! Since there was no changing Sesshomaru's knowledge of her origins she felt no compulsion to hide it. As it was little bits of info popped out of her mouth unbidden most of the time anyway so she might as well just explain it to the being who was now so frequently intimate with her mind and soul.)

The epitome of this new and totally strange form of contact and communication with the one-time bitter enemy, always terrifying but current quest partner had also become one of her favorite habits with Sesshomaru – sleeping. At night she would fall asleep with him sitting nearby stroking her hair and listening to him think until she was fell asleep. Then they met in their middle space, which she called their mindscape, and she would spend the night while her body refueled with the giant white form of Sesshomaru's combined consciousnesses. They would chat – even in the pitch black of the cave and with the terror of the attack still making her heart beat loud enough to be heard a mile away – she had to smile and roll her eyes at the thought of "chatting" with the Killing Perfection. She had learned in the past week and a half that many of her perceptions had been wrong but still the fact that internally Sesshomaru was a chatty Cathy just blew her mind. She had suspected that he was a deep and prolific thinker, most quiet people are, but she never thought what it might mean if you were privy to a quiet person's thoughts without the normal filter that's attached to their mouths. The result was nights of great conversations about everything and anything under the sun and moon and far distant stars; ancient, present and future; real, imagined, theologized or philosophized; fact, fiction or legend; and so much between two chatterboxes – one of whom hadn't had someone to talk to like that EVER before (and who seemed to like the experience).

As she reached her hand down to grab his, her smile shifted to a gentle smile of remembrance. While he did have a lot of questions and seemed willing enough to answer her own, they would frequently pass hours just lounging about enjoying the feel of another being who understood them being close by. He was trusted and whatever he wanted in touching her she trusted that it would make things better. Even though she was expecting it, that first contact made her jump. She was expecting the slimy and cold but the shape wasn't right and he wasn't wrapping his fingers around her hand like normal. Then she realized that she was touching his nose – his beast's nose. _Ah, that's what's going on. We're in our mindscape. _

As soon as the realization dawned on her she could see again. She was her avatar, giant so that Sesshomaru's beast was Great Dane proportions to her body, and they were in that middle place where they had once come to a draw in their fight for dominance.

She watched in strange fascination as the giant white beast took a step closer (with eyes trained on her for any more crazy and unexpected behavior) so that her hands glided up over his nose and forehead to swipe in between the ears, as they lay back to accommodate the movement, and down his neck with a second step that moved more of his body into contact with hers.

_Sesshomaru_! And with that reality settling in her brain the tension broke inside of her and all the broken pieces came falling down.

She fell to her knees and cried as the now towering figure moved in around her so that his body was more or less wrapped around her small human sized one (In the mental space you were only as big as you saw yourself – when Kagome needed to be big and aggressive she could be, but most of the time she still saw herself as small and ordinary so she was small and ordinary – or as ordinary as a glowing pink avatar that radiated her emotions like a sun and sat in a dreamscape talking to monstrous dog demons could be.) He didn't say anything to her he just radiated concern and worry and patience.

(* (Lucky for Sesshomaru they were in the mindscape between their minds so she didn't catch every thought that wandered through his mind, like the instinct and impulse to like the salty tears from her face. He squashed that thought, he might have a beast's nature but he was still the Lord of the West and one of the most feared youkai in the world, there was only so much humiliation he would allow himself – even if his beast was willing to push the limits for this strange little creature, especially as her heavenly scent was drown in the horrible scent of fear and panic. They compromised and nuzzled her affectionately, that wasn't _too_ humiliating – and he couldn't not do at least that much to comfort her.)*)

Finally, as she calmed she could feel his anxiety radiating off of him. His body language, as easy to read as any dog she had ever seen asked his questions for him, **What is wrong? What happened? How can I make this thing better for you?**

He had never looked more like a dog than he did in that moment. She had seen Ami's dog look like that once when she was over at her house after Ami had failed an important test and was crying. It was an animal's incomprehension of a human's issues combined with the instinct to protect and fix their master, though master wasn't what she was to Sesshomaru, but she knew that she was just as important to him.

With that reassurance of her importance to him and the need he had through his instincts to comfort and his intelligence to comprehend she once again demonstrated her complete trust in him by opening all of her defenses to a powerful being who could potentially rip her mind to shreds. If he did not choose to destroy her mind she was still leaving her heart open to the potential wounds that a person can inflict when they know your deepest, darkest insecurity and fear.

It was an exchange of information. While he found in her mind what she experienced and the root of the problem she saw what he had experienced: He had been focusing on seeing what little he could and counting the turns they took and those they passed up that he was caught by surprise when she screamed and bolted. Reflex combined with the terrifying knowledge that once a wrong turn is taken in the huge underground maze finding your way out again was nearly impossible had latched Sesshomaru onto Kagome's leg. She felt his indignation at the humiliating position, but his determination that she not get herself or him lost conquered and kept him where he was. He had felt her miko powers as they brushed by him, singeing him slightly around the edges and he decided that it was time to stop her movements more forcible, that is with his beast. He once again made the mistake of thinking that he could simply overpower her and make her submit to his will. So once again they were forced into a dominance fight. She got several good hits in and he was actually slightly injured before she finally heard him calling her name – which he had been doing all along. She heard his mental chuckle at her; _you are even more formidable when you lose your sense of reason_.

Now that they were both caught up on what had happened. Kagome quickly jumped up and walked away from Sesshomaru. She crossed her arms over her chest and held herself tightly, with her head bowed and waited for his harsh words. She knew Sesshomaru prized strength and she was waiting for his reaction to her fear, her weakness, her unworthiness. She heard him get to his feet again and she did a cowardly thing. She left. She could not stand to hear the words she knew were coming. She felt Sesshomaru's beast come after her, to stop her, so he could say his peace, but she pulled herself free of him and popped back into her body with enough force that her back arched up off the ground where she lay.

She was up and ready to head off into the dark on her own in seconds. She was about to step away when she heard a deadly serious voice behind her call her name. Again she marveled at the things he was able to accomplish deprived of his normal, smooth baritone and relegated to a nerve-grating squeak as she stopped dead in her tracks.

She stopped but refused to turn around. She felt the tears flowing from her real eyes this time but refused to make any noise – without his sense of smell he didn't have to know that she was crying if she was quiet about it and kept her back turned. Sesshomaru, not conceding to let her hide or run away came up behind her. Trying to ignore her own physical signs of mortification and anxiety; the tight lump in her throat, the kaleidoscope of butterflies in her guts, the fire burning in her face or the hummingbird paced heart beat that he had to be hearing, she tried to concentrated all of her being onto the flapping sound of his deformed feet as he walked up behind her and around to her front. He just stood, or at least she assumed he was standing, right in front of her for several long moments. Finally her nerve broke again and she turned on her heel, and despite understanding the stupidity of running off into a pitch black maze, and took a step away.

A sharp command in the form of her name had her froze her – again. _Curse dogs who can do that with their voice! Aren't they supposed to be on the receiving end of commands like that, not issuing them to humans. _

"Kneel." The command was issued in the squeaky little voice but Kagome could hear the bass growl that was his beast's voice echo through the tunnel, though that should have been impossible.

She took a deep breath and did it. Surrounded by the pitch black that had always frighten her to death she realized that there were things that she feared even more than the dark and she was about to do one. She knelt and bowed her head to the side in the proper submissive form and waited for her new family to renounce her for her unworthiness. She waited patiently to be cast out, away, from a place that made her feel accepted and adequate.

She listened with painful awareness as his feet padded the two steps towards her. Then she felt something unexpected – a chilly digit caught under the edge of her chin and raised her face. She could not see anything but she strained to catch a glimpse of his face or body language that would give his intent away. When she was finally sitting upright again she felt the whole hands slide to the right cheek and the other touch her left, cradling her face in his little hands. His aura brushed against hers questioning, asking for admittance. She opened her mind and she felt Sesshomaru's voice vibrate through her mind.

"Stupid child," he reprimanded, causing her to flinch and try to draw back from him. His boney fingers pressed down on her face keeping her in place. "Do not assume to know the mind of this Sesshomaru on this issue." He paused, his anger dissipating before he continued. "Of course I am surprised to find you have such a simple fear hidden deep in your heart. I had come to think that you were fearless." His deep voice purred, his beast's presence in her mind radiating frustration and complete acceptance. "I know much of your life now and I know the trouble you get yourself into without consideration. You took to my training, severe and intense as it was, without flinching. You tamed the Matriarch of a wild dragon herd in mere minutes and never thought it outlandish when it is unheard of. You fought my beast to a standstill and then turned around and promised to love a monster that had tried to kill you several times as family. You, my little surprise, have never shown any reasonable fear or hesitation, it's just unusual to find an unreasonable one lurking. But it does not make me care for you any less. I will not be cruel to you like I can feel you expect. I am not cross with you for any other reason than you trying to run away from me. I did not know about this issue of yours or I would have thought of something … done something… You should have told me. How did you hide it? I could have …"

The words were a rough and inadequate translation of the raw thoughts and emotions that touched her heart and she felt the tears run anew, but they were happy tears this time. His thoughts, thoughts from his true self, were so much more kind and understanding than anything she had expected. His physical voice said nothing, but his heart said so much more.

"Help me," her angelic inner voice pleaded into his mind. "So I can go on, so we can keep moving forward. I want to be more, better, braver – I want to really be the way you thought I was – for you, for me and for the rest of my pack. I've always wanted to be more but I've never been any good."

To this point the entire exchange had taken about 15 minutes, from the time the inopportune drop of water had fallen on Kagome's face to this point, as time in mental space and conversation were more condensed – a single thought saying in a second what a mouth would take a minute or two to convey. Kagome felt Sesshomaru calculate time passage and his plans for entering the palace and then pull her face slightly forward as he knelt without letting go of her face.

"I will teach you the trick to living without eyes but you must learn it quickly and it is not something that you will come naturally to you, I don't think. You have always relied on your vision and visual cues to manage your world. What I teach is not difficult but it will be foreign, unfortunately, we don't have much time for you to adapt. If we are to catch the castle before dark when the majority of the occupants are up and about then you have about 30 minutes to change your entire perception of the world."

Kagome gulped, took a deep breath and considered his proposition for a moment. Still being mind-melded with Sesshomaru let her know that he thought she could do it, if she were open to change. _If he thinks I can do it I can. Besides, adaptation is my middle name – right after Megoka._

"_Very good." _Sesshomaru felt the lift in her spirits, the return of her fire and drive and it made him happy. But Kagome felt the edge of anger that trickled through little cracks in his self control. He wanted to know who had damaged Kagome's psyche and return the damage a hundred fold in a more physical manner and he had a suspicion he knew who had done it…

Kagome quickly pressed for her lesson wanting to distract the anger that was quickly blossoming into rage. But the trick of being extremely intimate with another's mind is that there is a type of feedback, they know when you know that they know and then you know that, too. Yeah, it's kind of like that. So they both knew that he was mad and that she was desperate to avoid the subject and they both agreed that now was not the time – but Sesshomaru was not willing to disregard it completely – dog's are very protective and more than a little vindictive.

Sesshomaru proceeded to expand on Kagome's lessons from the previous days – to use her powers to enhance her hearing and her smell. Her smell would never compare to even Inuyasha's but it was much better than any human's and would still give her a lot more information about her surroundings. He taught her how to look at the world with only these two senses and she tried to learn. She threw all of her energy into following his examples of smelling the air and listening to the distance of the walls by the way the sound of their breathing carried. She created a shortcut by creating a mindscape that she viewed with Megoka's eyes based off of the things her other senses told her. Sesshomaru did not exactly approve but time was of the essence and he vowed to work with her more in the future.

Kagome could not help but smile. He has an awful lot of plans for the future_. I guess if I got to live forever I would have lots of plans, too. _ And a sudden realization hit her. She kept her mind very closely guarded while she thought her revelation through. She quickly considered everything that she had learned about his family history and dog youkai in general and the strange bond that they shared led her to put a mental price tag on their new family bond as "priceless", but she was still only human. Her life span was only 80 years, if she survived all of her adventures and her own clumsy nature. She might have done a very bad thing.

_I might have inadvertently done more damage than good here. Sesshomaru is surprisingly fragile. I mean, come on, look at his past – who can blame him! Oh, fudgerbunnies, I think…_

_NOW is not the time to be thinking of that. Be practical. Deal with the issue at hand. Don't borrow worries when you have a very full plate of them. Right now we have more than enough to deal with. What we have works for now, let's move._

"Okay, let's try this out," she reiterated aloud for Sesshomaru's benefit as she stood and brushed off her pants.

She grabbed his hand as soon as she was standing, it was her anchor in a sea of sensations. She had worked on these skills a little but only as lessons so she could get the hang of it. Trying to process it and use it and move while doing it all was a lot. Sesshomaru was again amazingly patient. He answered all of her mental inquiries about what a new sound or scent was. Slowly at first, then with more speed as scents and sensations became more familiar, they moved on towards their goal.

An hour later she was walking on her own while seeing a mental 3D, virtual reality map of what she thought was in front of her – and they had made it through the maze and to the door that was suppose to lead into Rin's bed chamber. Rin should be finishing her evening play time in the garden so her room should be empty and a good entry point since so few were allowed this far into the family wing of the castle. Rin should come back and they could get Sesshomaru's teeth back with little problem and be gone again before morning.

Sesshomaru walked up to the bespelled door and put his hands on it. Kagome could not feel it because of his lack of youki but she knew that the Sesshomaru's beast was 'talking' to the door so that it recognized the master of the castle and would open for him. It was like a youkai retina scanner so that it had very limited access – always good for escape routes that are meant to save the family of the master in case the worst case scenario happens and the castle is taken and the master himself cannot protect his family him or herself. The door, which was a part of the back wall of Rin's room, slid soundlessly to the side a few centimeters.

The sound from inside the room was almost deafening after the silence of the tunnels. There were several loud voices shouting and above all the clamor came Jaken's abnormally large voice issuing orders, "Rouse all the guards. I want all of Gin's troops at the front, Kuro's troops split between the two sides and Ao's troops to the rear of the castle in case someone is stupid enough to try and come in through Lord Sesshomaru's private grounds. I want Aka and Shiro to prepare for battle, check all equipment. Kin and Chairo need to prepare for siege conditions. Where is Rin? I want all of Lord Sesshomaru's personal guards to be watching her 24-7 from now on. If anything where to happen to her Lord Sesshomaru would…"

Jaken's voice slowly faded away with the rest of the din as the crowd moved out of the room and down the hallway and further on into the castle, though the sound of the whole group hesitating in their step, thoughts and heartbeats was definitely audible, well inaudible as the pregnant pause hung in the air as they all considered the possibilities of Lord Sesshomaru's reaction if anything were to happen to Rin. The words were lost but from that point on the whole mass of youkai seemed to be in more of a rush to carry out orders and fortify the castle.

Kagome had been too caught up in the sudden noise and their words to think about much else, but she became suddenly aware of a tight ball of tension that was standing inches away. Sesshomaru whole tiny body was a knot of energy, barely contained. Then it wasn't contained at all. He had pushed the sliding door the rest of the way open and was walking with all the dignity and hurry that the tiny body could muster.

"Something is wrong," he stated unnecessarily as he proceeded across the bedroom and to the door.

_You think_?, Kagome thought to herself sarcastically. She reached out to grab try and stop Sesshomaru from leaving the room and thus exposing them (they were here secretly and Sesshomaru's imp form was on the banned list hence the need for secrecy) but her instincts were tickling and as she had learned she listened to them.

_Follow the follower_, it said, _but do it quietly_!

So Kagome reached out and grabbed Sesshomaru's little shoulder, pulled him to a halt and (ignoring the glare he leveled at her) scooped him up and pulled her aura in tight around them so that she was invisible to youkai senses. _Never thought I'd actually be thankful for Sesshomaru's ultra-intense training methods, but now I know how to do this and that's pretty darn awesome. _

"_Human!" _ Sesshomaru's beast growled at her.

"_Oh, get over it! This is the best way and you know it." _She rolled her eyes as she crept quietly after the retreating voices. The bundle in her arms going absolutely still – _Uh oh!_

"_HUMAN!"_

_+++++++++Author's Note+++++++++++++_

_Sorry it took so long to get this out, it was even more work than I thought it was going to be teaching and working at the bookstore so I didn't get around to this nearly as soon as I had hoped. I will continue to write, though it will be less frequently, but I hate when you're reading a good story and all of a sudden the author just drops off the face of the Earth – so won't do that. I will finish this story eventually. Thank you for all being dedicated readers. _

_And as always a special thanks to everyone who reviews this story. You guys are my motivation._


	21. Chapter 21

Just a reminder on communication:

"Normal out-loud speech."

_Sesshomaru's/Kagome's mental dialogue to self_

_Beast's/Avatar's dialogue to self_

"_Sesshomaru's/Kagome's mental dialogue with each other via inner selves."_

**Things conveyed through inu body language**_**.**_

Frog Prince: Chapter 21

As they got closer to the secret entrance into Rin's room Kagome had become able to stand and walk on her own. With his keen eyes, the only thing that had never deserted him, Sesshomaru watched her and found himself wondering again at the fear and self-deprecation that Kagome had displayed in her moment of weakness. She was only human and he had long ago found there to be a correlation between life span and fear; the longer the lifespan the less fear, the shorter the more fears the heart seemed to harbor – but also more joys – at least Rin had seemed to display that quality and the two human females did have some marked similarities.

The troubling thing was her terror of abandonment and being found unworthy. Someone had damaged her heart and he had a good idea who that someone was, but he could not be sure because she had set a firm wall around that part of her mind and memory. It was the only time in all of their interactions that she exerted her phenomenal control into restricting his access to her. To say that it was her greatest vulnerability would be an understatement. On this little excursion he had had plenty of opportunity to observe her foolish fearlessness and unparalleled power and kindness. She had become more than human and the fact that her heart was damaged to this disturbed him, greatly.

The beast's, which was the epitome of his true feelings, growls echoed through his head accenting the tight feeling that was anger that he was trying to ignore squeezing his chest. But if he were honest he knew that if he had had his youki the flares would have been felt for several leagues and there would be a mass exodus of all reiki sensitive beings.

_She knows that this was done to her and she is hiding the culprit from us._ His beast and heart growled to him. _We are strong enough to protect her. We can make her tell, then we destroy the source and with us she will grow stronger._

_Yes, she knows who did this to her and yes she is keeping it from us, but does that does not mean that we are ignorant of who has done it. _At this thought his beast made a vicious and anticipatory noise of a dog that is anxious to start after the prey the it can smell on the wind_. She is too strong for us to force, and I thought you had noticed that particularly 'worthy' aspect of her, but that does not mean that we are weak or will allow this to go unpunished. How dare that lowly creature treat this god-send with anything but complete devotion! Yes, we will extract vengeance but she will not appreciate the effort if my suspicion is correct; her protective instincts are as keen as any inu's and pack is pack. This will be a delicate endeavor, we will be the patient hunter that waits for the perfect moment when the kill is guaranteed in one swift and irrevocable strike. _

And with a joyfully malicious purr vibrating through his head and thoughts of disemboweling his last blood relative Sesshomaru running in full color gory glory through his mind, he placed his hands on the secret door and his beast roared with excitement at the prospect and the promise of blood and retribution and poured his beast and essence into the magic that sealed the door. With a smirk well hidden from the ignorant human he settled himself into his the long wait for his prey to step into his trap. And in an instant flash or ironic revelation he was glad for the first time that he did not possess his youki because this much blood lust would be difficult for even his renowned self-control to contain. _It is important that she remain ignorant of our intents or she try to stop us._

A strange pressure in his chest tensed and relaxed, as if his soul had taken a deep rousing breath, as one does after a rejuvenating slumber.

_Agreed. We will NOT let it slip, this I swear, _his beast promised; and when the Lord of the West made a promise not even the gods could stop the force of will behind it.

(*( Inuyasha's focus had started to waver. He wondered how these guys could be so calm and talk so much. He had always preferred action himself. Suddenly a chill ran up his spine and he knew that something dangerous had set its sights on him. _So, he knows, does he_, he thought to himself, that constant second voice in his head purred in anticipation of a fight, _Good! Let him come. I'm ready. This time I'm more than ready for him. She's mine and I'm not letting that jerk take her away. _With his focus once again keen, he sat up to become active in the planning again. He smiled to himself as the night breeze seemed to carry his brother's animosity and killing intent, _Yeah, right back attcha, ya f'ing b'tard. )*)_

Upon entering the room all thoughts of the half-breed left Sesshomaru's mind. _Something was very wrong, _he noted immediately_. _There should never be soldiers in this part of the castle and it was unmistakably the sound of soldier's voices that he was hearing from the room. Jaken's voice cut through the din as he issued orders for the various units to take up various jobs to prepare for siege and battle.

His rage, stoked by thoughts of murdering the one responsible for damaging his family, turned and intensified as another threat to what was his to protect presented itself. He was being assaulted on all sides; first he, himself was personally attacked, then he finds his family damaged and in need of avenging, finally he walks into his castle under attack which is a direct threat to his pack, subjects, lands, title and family pride (the only thing he had of family for centuries before a few days previous).

"Something is wrong," the asinine comment slipped unbidden from his lips as his shock seemed to force his brain into a sputtering stall. Shock gave way as his temper was whipped up into to a blazing fire storm.

For a moment his extremities tingled as his beast roared and struggled to break free of its confines. Logical thoughts were drown out by the overwhelming desire of both halves of his soul to rage and rampage, destroying the world without consideration for the audacity of Fate and its conspiring cohorts, invisible unknown gods and other powerful beings, idiotic and pathetic half-breeds, and unknown forces wish unknown causes that were assaulting his castle. All targeted him and his so specifically and unjustly for attack – well not while he still lived and breathed. Action was required. But the small body only shuddered again, ever muscle twitching but nothing happened, no release of power, no seeping of poison, no transformation into a towering monster of death and carnage – his eyes did not even bleed red. He did not have a body capable of transforming into the beast and confined within him or the teeth to lash out at his enemy to content his rage.

_Powerless? I cannot be powerless! I am the KILLING PERFECTION!_ His beast roared as it continued to force the issue, doing nothing more than stressing the tiny body with massive muscle tremors and confused nerve impulses.

His body was taking steps forward despite the all over shakes that racked his frame. His focus was on getting to the source of the trouble and not on the trouble standing right behind him. His focus switched quickly enough when he felt her scoop him bodily up and pull him in close to her chest.

"_Human!"_ He warned as his beast touched her avatar.

"_Oh, get over it! This is the best way and you know it." _

His rage increased to the point of losing all control, with or without a transformation, as the anger of indignation and insult was added to the already out-of-control fury burning his soul. "_HUMAN!"_

He considered for a moment unleashing his beast on her mind, she was vulnerable because she was trying to form a layer of miko power over both of them to contain their presence, scent, sound and auras; she was inexperienced with the use of her powers and under a lot of stress to maintain a technique she had not mastered while moving and trying to sort out the situation leaving her mental and magical defenses wide open in places. Combine her blink spots with the level of violent energy he had swirling within him with no outlet and he was sure that in that moment he could have reduced her to a drooling fool in a matter of seconds.

_Family_, the his beast protested cut through in a whisper as the current of fury rushed past his ears almost drowning out the instinct as it pleaded for restraint. The beast in his heart pulling in the reigns of actions was as good as a bucket of ice water to the face.

Sesshomaru entire being, soul, mind, energy, everything, screeched to a halt as the magnitude of what he had been considering doing dawned on him. And in that moment the sleeping dog that had unwittingly been dozing comfortably for almost a century roused itself to full alertness, remembering who he was, the he whom he himself had forgotten as years passed with little to shake his world from its routine.

_I am the Lord of the West. Son of Inu no Taisho. I am the most feared youkai not only for my fighting ability, my youki, my lineage, my title, my ruthlessness, my temper – all without a doubt formidable and deserving of fear – but it has always been my mind, my control, and my honor that has set me apart, even among the other Lords and dais. I am more than a beast, more than a Lord, more than a swordsman. I am Sesshomaru. I am the best because I make myself into best._

He had not even realized that he had let part of himself slip. His will, which he had thought he exercised all of the time, was actually rarely challenged even when he barely flexed the smallest part of it. He had been going through the motions of seeming to pursue strength but had stopped pushing himself to be more because there was no goal to achieve, no body better to beat, no one strong enough to challenge his authority/ He had become complacent without even realizing it, worse yet, he had thought that he was exercising his "be the best that you can be" philosophy when he was barely maintaining the achievements he mastered centuries before. He had completely missed missing his driven self.

His dealings with this situation, particularly with Kagome and her powerful avatar had begun to wake his true self, the great Sesshomaru who strove day in and day out to be the best. She offered a reason to be better, though the instincts and unconscious motivation that she stirred were still unrevealed to his waking mind, he still felt the tug her presence that demanded he be everything that he could be. The uncontrolled rage and the thought of being helpless on so many fronts because his physical body and magical abilities were limited ran into whatever emotions Kagome invokes in him and his absolute and unquestionable need to protect her at all cost. It was the final shock that he needed to wake up fully his unique soul that demanded strength and perfection in everything. A worthy opponent had entered the field, even if it was as insurmountable as Fate as an opponent; he was no less stirred to attention and action. He still had his mind, and it was as sharp and deadly as his claws or teeth had ever been. He had still had recourses; his beast had returned, he had a powerful and brave female (even though she was human) with him as his newly found family, his loyal mount was near at hand and hopefully soon at least his ward if not his servant. All was not lost, he was sure that even with the innumerable disadvantages he would be able to set things right again, even if he had to do it was a toad.

The revelation, as monumental as it was for the daiyoukai, was like a wick catching a flame – almost instantaneous. (In other words, he had a light bulb moment.) And the human woman who still held him had been frozen in place for only a few moments, holding her breath. He could feel her anxiety shimmer throughout the layer of energy around him.

With complete calm he looked up at her eyes and reached slowly up to touch her cheek. He did not let his beast say a thing to her, he just looked at her. And she proved that she was worthy of being his family as a slow smile spread across her face and her aura cleared into a almost visible pink glow. Her eyes took on the sparkle of a child about to play a game that included a great deal of mischief. Even without the touch of his soul she was able to read his mood, intent and permission in his eyes.

She slipped out of the room in reiki slippers that muffled all sound and tailed after the now distant group of assorted youkai who were thankfully slowed because of Jaken's slow waddle.

_How is it that this comes almost naturally to her_, he thought off handedly_, when she showed absolutely no aptitude for stalking and hunting her dinner?_

And to prove that he was equal to Kagome in innate, or at least instinctual, understanding of the other his beast replied without hesitation_. __ She is a gentle creature that is not capable of malicious intent for her own needs, but given a cause, something to protect she is as resourceful and powerful as need be._

Her energy was suddenly pressing in against him and he could feel all of her focus on catching up with the group of retreating youkai to gather more information and all the while she had a mental image of a smiling little girl with a off-center ponytail and a orange and white blocked yukata and a fierce need to make sure she was okay and would stay that way.

_That's my girl_, he thought as his beast purred while his mind shifted to analyzing and assessing the situation and what information he had available. He was unfortunately derailed a second later when the mental image shifted to what was undoubtedly meant to be a private image of the way she saw him.

His beast's purred intensified and the newly awakened determination flared. _Yes, that's my girl__._

_****Author's Note*******_

_I am of the school of thought that no matter how much a person changes there are some basic things that don't – Sesshomaru is a daiyoukai and feudal Lord – that has a good deal of innate violence and dictator-ish-ness to it. As much kindness as he has been showing to Kagome, he will still gladly disembowel anything that stands in his way – even more so now._

_Anyway, I hope that you are still enjoying the story – its grown to be much more than I ever thought it would be. I was trying to go for an easy adventure but this stupid god wanted to change the world – and the world changes one heart at a time so it became a lot more internalized than I had ever thought possible. I hope that some of you will stick it out with me. _

_Big thanks to those of you who review my story!_

_**iheartanime43**__, you were the only one who reviewed the story the day I put it up online and if it wasn't for that I might have given up continuing it._

_**Riversan**__ and __**Estriel**__, too, thank you for encouraging me._

_And __**Yuki-Yasha Higurashi**__; that was a lot of reviewing, thanks a lot for taking the time to do that! _


	22. Chapter 22: Sneaking

Frog Prince: Chapter 22

Kagome did not know exactly what had happened with Sesshomaru's rage but it was gone. Well, not gone exactly, more like all that energy was given direction and purpose. The look in his eyes was unmistakable: he was in control and he would get them through this.

_So, this is how Rin always has such confidence that Sesshomaru will fix everything_. She had to stifle a giggle as she remembered the dreamy eyes of the cheerful little girl. Then she stopped short when she realized that when she had looked into his eyes and felt such reassurance she had not seen the bulbous yellow orbs of his little imp body, she had seen eyes of pure gold with slit pupils. They were such pretty eyes that she found herself looking forward to seeing them again, or for real, or for real again since she had seen them before, but she wanted to see **that** look in real life – or whatever it is that meant she would see Sesshomaru restored but still the Sesshomaru that she had come to know and love.

_Focus, girl, or you are going to get yourself caught_,_ and something tells me that right now is not the time to be caught inside this castle uninvited_! Her inner voice called her back just as her reiki barrier started to waver and dissipate. She focused again on the flow of the energy and it solidified and she watched the retreating backs of her prey as they disappeared from sight around a corner. _Not that I can blame that particular line of day dreaming…_

"_We must hurry_," Sesshomaru's anxiety broke into her thoughts causing her to start in surprise. She looked down at him with real terror in her eyes to see if he had heard Megoka's last comment, or her own wandering thoughts. His raised eyebrow made her let go a tiny sigh of relief – at least some of her thoughts were still private.

She nodded her head as she zipped up to the corner on silent feet. She found herself saying a silent thanks you to the gods for the amazing timing of her lessons with Sesshomaru. _It was almost as if fate has given them just enough time to level up for the next challenge. Sometimes life really feels like one of Souta's RPGs! But I don't think even those Konami or Square Enix guys could come with something this farfetched. My life is definitely stranger than fiction!_

_Focus!_ her inner voice sing-songed high to low.

She peeked around the corner she had her back to, all sneaky spy like, and saw that the group of youkai had not gotten very far thanks to the floppy gait of the imp. She struggled to contain her giggles as she watched the back of the five tall and well armored youkai of various colors all leaning in to listen to the two and a half foot tall comical figure and give him the bits of information that they had. The fact that the little toad was running the show struck her as ridiculous and slightly hilarious. But her hilarity was cut short when she felt a boney little elbow find its way between her ribs with amazing accuracy.

She looked down at a replica of the toad in the hall that she still held. He pushed his finger forward a little bit and she felt it almost slip through her barrier. _Damn this is hard!_

He either heard her thought or read it in her face because his next words were on the question side of a command rather than the order she was sure it was originally going to be, _"I need to be able to hear what they are saying, but we MUST stay hidden above all else."_

She gritted her teeth and thought of Rin and then Sesshomaru in all of his arrogant daiyoukai glory and she knew that she would do everything she could to protect those two images.

Suddenly her mind was overwhelmed with the images and names of hundreds of faces and names, entire villages, both human and youkai, and lists of inventories of stores and provisions. Sesshomaru was 'listening in' and he was letting her know that there was a lot more potentially at stake than his pride. She was mortified that he had seen her mental image of him and angry that he had pried into something that she did NOT want to share.

_How embarrassing! Geez, he has a big enough head already, he does not need to know that I think he is as great as he does,_ she thought purposely to herself.

"_I'm not eavesdropping, girl, you are projecting. When your dander gets up you let everyone know about it, having been touching your avatar when you decided to get focused on your motivational inspiration – well, this Sesshomaru appreciates your accurate perception of him, but it is more important that you know what the stakes truly are in the West were to be invaded. There is much more to my position than most perceive and there is significant danger to all concerned if the West were to fall. Though, I would appreciate it if we could be sure to secure the safety of my pack, Rin particularly, before we charge off to face unknown hordes. "_

_That guy sure has your number__, _her inner voice chimed in as Kagome ran through the mental list he had given her. She had just been given another gift. Sesshomaru had shared his secret devotion with her. The ice prince was actually a devoted Lord, he had not given just images and facts, he had sent her the processes and duties of being the Lord of the West, the late hours, the tours of the countryside, the secret negotiation with all the inhabitants to maintain peace combined with the outright displays of power to squelch any resistance, and hundreds of other things that while he was not always involved in personally he managed and arranged. He gave her hundreds years of experience and she only could process the emotion it was given with, not the data itself, and Megoka was right – Sesshomaru knew just how to motivate Kagome.

She cared for people; human or youkai or a mix thereof never made a difference to her, they were all people and she had a need to protect all life. She felt Sesshomaru's dedication to those that were his. He might not have cared outright for the individuals but he valued the whole of his lands and its inhabitants, even the humans (while short-lived, dishonorable, dirty and not worth his time or concern they were still inhabitants of his land and they had proven to be an increasingly intricate piece of the management of his lands and they weren't going away so he had to manage them well for the sake of his youkai). He was cold, distant and often cruel but he cared deeply for the health of the West and this shared feeling just intensified Kagome's own natural inclination to "do the right thing", whatever that might be. At this moment in time 'the right thing' was maintaining the barrier around them and eavesdropping by enhancing her hearing and keeping up with them without getting caught.

She gritted her teeth before taking a deep breath and relaxed into a standing meditative stance. She let her mind go blank for a moment and then separated it into four sections, two for her and two for the personification of her miko powers. The section labeled 'barrier' was given over to Megoka to manage, 'listening' was her task and 'moving' was split into subcategories; the instinct and subtle side of the environment (listening for other cues from things other than the conversation Kagome was listening to and visual cues that she saw out of the corner of her eyes) were of course up to her avatar and she would control the tracking the group and motor control. She opened her eyes and moved, face completely blank and mind completely focused.

_This is not efficient_, Megoka insisted as she assessed their movement.

Kagome swung the imp onto her back, one arm under his body to help support him as his arms wrapped around her neck. The arms were so short that they were barely able to reach the opposite hand, clasped hands pressed into her throat but with a quick adjustment of her hair and a better position of support with her arm she wasn't being choked.

She felt Sesshomaru's beast touch her avatar and her avatar did what her instincts said was right, she gave Sesshomaru complete access to herself. She felt him piggyback on her sensations, he got all the input of what she heard as she heard it, and in turn he helped her understand what the words meant. Their minds were almost perfectly married and focused on recognizance while their beasts worked on keeping them hidden and safe from outside threats.

"None of our scouts have returned meaning that the force must have either powerful reiki users or very high level youkai with them." The black haired youkai said. Sesshomaru provided name and rank; Kinnoku, upper-middle level dog youkai, captain of the recon division.

"The aerial spies do not have the same details because the recon we do is done from a much greater distance but it seems that there are more than 700 in the force, and the likelihood of there being both powerful humans and youkai seems to be very high." The blue-haired, female youkai called, her voice had a strange screechy quality. She was Sora, a falcon youkai and commander of the aerial troops; not his most powerful group of soldiers but invaluable nonetheless for their versatility and maneuverability.

"That's impossible," the bald youkai with green skinned youkai with the large halberd strapped to his back. Soku'ou was a snake youkai and the commander of the foot soldiers (grunts) and a demon in the true sense of the word – a temper and a love of seeing blood flow – but completely loyal to the House of the West. "There has never been a force that large of youkai and humans cooperating."

"This group is different," The sandy haired man said. This man was special to Sesshomaru, this was Kyo, dog youkai and commander of Sesshomaru's personal guards and special forces, and the closest thing that he had to a friend, though so distant from what Kagome knew as a 'friend' that she felt her heart clench with anger and a desperate need to change the life that Sesshomaru had experienced up to this point. This surge of emotions was trampled by both her avatar and Sesshomaru's beast as not the point right now and unimportant respectively. They were on keeping-us-alive duty so she listened and focused again on the conversation, though she only put the thought on hold – she would not forget Sesshomaru's loneliness or bear it in the future – but they had other business at the moment.

"… the wind carries many scents. Even from as far off as they still are it is undeniable that there are humans, mikos, monks and soldiers; as well as a wide variety of youkai: wolves, bats, fox, raccoons, otters, monkeys, cat and that's just the ones that I've been able to scent myself. What's more, though perhaps it's not too surprising all things considered, I smell the distinct stench of hanyou from several different lines."

Kagome felt her heart skip a beat in her chest. "_What a strange group. What could they want?" _ She thought to no one in particular, Sesshomaru had his own questions.

"_How_ _far away are they and do they seem hostile? If no scouts are returning it does not bode well..."_

As if hearing his Lord's questions Jaken said, "They are still a day's travel from the gates, at least at the rate that they've been going. Their speed does not indicate that they are overly aggressive but failure of scouts to return is quite disturbing. Do we know who is leading this group at least? I need to know all the details before I report to our Lord…"

The group turned a corner and the two inner beings warned the conscious mind and half in charge of the motor functions that they needed to stop. As Kagome pulled back her sense to her immediate vicinity she realized that she had more or less walked into the center of the castle and around the corner was the full bustle of a castle under attack.

"We just passed through the family wing and there is little there other than private rooms and a very select few are allowed in there, in fact three of those generals have never been that direction. Whatever lie Jaken has been telling to disguise my absence must have mandated that they go to my personal chambers. They seem to be heading to my audience chamber where war is normally discussed. Getting further than this will be very –"

Sesshomaru's mental communication was cut off by the shrill voice of Rin as she screamed in excitement. "Really! Mr. Inuyasha is coming here? Does that mean that I can play with Shippo?"

Kagome's poor heart all but stopped at that. "Inuyasha?" she whispered.

Suddenly there was complete silence, even Rin had stopped her chattering midsentence. Kagome become painfully aware that every creature around that corner had focused their senses and youki at her corner, she could feel it through the stone.

_Oops. I slipped_. Her inner voice wind chime voice sounded embarrassed.

Kagome did a quick check of how well her defenses were being maintained and where they had slipped. The shock of hearing that Inuyasha was coming and the not so great leap of logic of a combined force with such a familiar collection of youkai and hanyou had impaired her concentration but only slightly, but it was a pretty devastating 'slightly'.

Sesshomaru squeezed her neck and sent her a quick plan and a quiet reassuring message before he slid down her back and hit the floor. "_Remember, twenty minutes_."

_You forgot to hide HIM? How could you cover only me, stupid powers? How could I slip up like that? _She thought as she did as Sesshomaru told her to and slipped into the secret panel that he opened with a touch before he disappeared around the bend at the end of the hall they had been in. _What will they do if they catch him in here?_

_With him smelling like you and Inuyasha beating on their doors with a large force of soldiers and reiki users… not anything good. But do you think that Sesshomaru will let himself get caught?_

_No, but…_ she thought without any confidence as she stood with a hand touching the door that led back to the main corridor to the family wing where she had seen Sesshomaru run a distraction for her, to cover her mistake. She could hear several pairs of heavy footsteps running past with others shouting orders from further away. _He's not completely himself right now._

_Even at half his normal self do you think he'll lose to the four slackers they sent after him?_

Kagome noticed that even her heart of heart was wavering a little at the prospect of the little toad evading the four large, armed guards. _Well, the least I can do at this point is make sure I keep up my part of the plan. How did he come up with a plan on the spot like that, or was he expecting me to fail from the very beginning…_

_You were there. He thought of it just like that. He's a sharp cookie and he was just as surprised as you to hear it was Inuyasha at the front gates. Though his eagerness at that revelation was a bit disturbing…_

_Fine, fine. You're right, now do you remember the directions he gave us? _

_Yeah, did you notice that you've been standing in the pitch black for several minutes without freaking out._

_Oh my gosh! Sesshomaru is better than Dr. Phil! I love that dog and his demented therapy!_


	23. Chapter 23: Still Got It

Frog Prince: Chapter 23

Sesshomaru high tailed it back the way that he had come. He was torn between being supremely pissed at the set delay that being chased by four armed guards posed while he was without his body or power and the thrilled at this new challenge presented to him as his brain mapped out his course and laid his plans. He might not be his normal white-death self but he had more than enough strategic capabilities left to kick these guard's…shins.

He ran back as fast as his frustratingly short legs could carry him into and through Rin's room. As he stepped out onto her balcony and let loose a shrill whistle. A few moments later he step out of the shadow and into the room with an malicious smile and grabbed several of Rin's spare yukatas on his way to the hidden door at the far end of the room, the same one that Kagome and he had used to enter the castle. He only had a few moments to utilize the hidden passages and make his way to his personal study before the soldiers would be in the hall of the family wing. He figured he had had about a 60 seconds head start from the main corridor to work with, the guards would have to move with more caution to avoid traps and ambush that they did not know didn't exist.

He was just emerging from the secret passage into his study when he felt more than heard the soldiers' cautious approach. He walked to the door, placed a hand on it and let his beast touch the magic embedded into the wood and released the magic lock. Then he gave it a tiny push to slide the light wooden frame so that there was a small opening. As he flapped the clothes he was wearing to let his scent seep out of the door he wondered how long it had been since he had actually touched the satiny wood and watched the opaque paper flutter against the finely carved lattice. Normally he unlock and open most doors with youki long before he was anywhere near the entrance, the only door he physically touched was the ones leading into his private quarters and that was more of a left over habit that he had learned from his father. He spared a passing thought of gratitude and profound curiosity at the circumstances that led whomever it was to decide to make the magic of the door unlock for the master's animal soul without requiring the accompanying youki, R_eally, when would the Lord of the West be without his youki._

_You don't think that the one behind this has done this before – to father? _His instincts whispered to him.

… _For now, let's worry about defeating these peons so I can get onto the main attraction. So many reasons to eviscerate that worthless abomination have presented themselves in the past few days there's no sense in holding back anymore for idiotic sentimentality._

_For __**her**__ and for the West even I will agree with that._

Never had a toad creature looked more like an imp from hell as when the deformed daiyoukai reached into the hidden compartment at the back of the bottom drawer of his low desk and pulled out a jar of strange, neon blue slim and grabbed a quill from the top of it, as he proceeded with his set up for his guerilla assault. His instincts alerted him to a change in the air pressure in the hall. He might not have his heightened sense of smell and hearing but he still had hundreds of years of experience, training and finely honed instincts. He hurried into his hiding spot on the raised cubby on the far wall behind the spot where he normally sat at his desk, where the katanakake (frame for holding his swords) sat. He removed his tiny robe and draped it over as much of the stand as possible. Then he crouched down and waited.

He did not have to wait long, two guards slid the door forcefully open so that the delicate frame shuttered and seemed about to crack. _Must we leave them alive? __ his beast whined,__ they obviously do not respect their Lord's property or space._

Sesshomaru ignored his inner bloodlust and focused on the sounds of the guards now sweeping the room. Through the cloth of his robe he was able to make out the entranceway that was left wide open. He was surprised to see that there were in fact five guards in the wing, not the four that he had originally assumed. Sesshomaru had not sensed him at all and his uniform let Sesshomaru know that the fifth youkai was the most powerful and skilled of the group, a junior member of the special forces unit under Kyo. And he had apparently taken command of the situation.

The male in the distinctive black and purple uniform of the special division had stayed in a central position in the hall, his strangely featureless face completely blank. He was monitoring both parties as they moved forward. Sesshomaru could see two guards a heading towards Rin's room after the trail that he had left. The second team was of course already in the room with him, having followed his scent. This was an intelligent formation; teams of two helped ensure against surprise attacks, and two teams meant that multiple possibilities being explored at once. The youkai who had put himself in charge could monitor the hall, rooms and both teams and coordinate their efforts. It also left the strongest member free to respond quickly if reinforcements were needed either direction. It was an intelligent and efficient strategy. Sesshomaru felt a mix of pleasure and pity, both because he knew he was the superior strategist and he was going to show the young recruit just how it felt to have your butt handed to you by a 2 foot tall toad, and it would be a bitter lesson.

_Still, this fellow has the kind of potential that I notice, that I value, how has he escaped my notice. I really must have him in my personal service – immediately._ Sesshomaru quickly adjusted his plans and felt his heart rate increase at the added challenge. _This will be even more interesting…_

_Fun__, _his beast half purred, half growled in anticipation. And a shiver shook the little imp as he felt the strange black in black eyes shift to look directly at him as if sensing and accepting the challenge. The black and purple robed youkai quirked his almost nonexistent lips, revealing a long, slightly curved but very slender fang that was oddly translucent. _Very fun._

The young soldier took a step towards the room but stopped when he noticed that the soldiers in the room were closing in on the hiding space. He paused and looked back towards Rin's room. Sesshomaru knew if was still a bit too early for that trap to have been sprung, but he saw the way the youkai stiffened and turned all of his attention towards the other room, hand on his sword as if he could feel the trap that was about to be sprung.

_Good instincts, too…_Sesshomaru noted before his attention was drawn back the here and now and two guards moving towards him

He did not know their names but he recognized the grunts from his regular inspections of his troops and from the training grounds where he still enjoyed finding the occasional sparring partner, not that he had spared with either of these two, but his sparing matches tended to draw a large crowd of spectators – hence his matches being infrequent as it took some time for the soldiers to forget the beating he had given the last who braved the floor with him.

His increased heart rate and surge of adrenaline was definitely noticed by the two who had been sent to investigate the room. By the smiles twitching at the corners of their mouths they thought he was afraid and riding an adrenaline high from the fight or flight response his body was experiencing. He suppressed his own smile at their misinterpretation; they thought he was on the flight side and he was standing firmly in the I'm-going-to-make-you-regret-you-woke-up-this-morning side of the line.

He felt amazingly alive as the two brutes walked towards his hiding place. It was a rare occurrence that he felt the potential of failure, even if he doubted it would happen there was still the chance that he was about to loose and that awoke some strong reaction within him. He had flash of revelation that could prove, in time, to be of unparalleled significant to his life, and as a consequence to that of thousands of other's lives directly and hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, indirectly. Unknown to him his simply understanding and acceptance of the sensations that he was experiencing had the potential to change the course of history, _This is what it is to be __**alive**__, to understand that you might die._

But, as vital to the future as that thought might eventually be it was still just a thought and he had other things to worry about at the moment: surviving this encounter to get to that future being his first priority.

It looked like the lower-mid level female inu was taking lead, probably because she had a better nose than the smaller monkey youkai behind her. That would make things a bit trickier but if he timed it just right…

_Almost there…_ The black haired female was moving with purpose towards him, she could undoubtedly smell him and hear his racing heart. With the monkey youkai keeping his eyes of the rest of the room the dog was moving in to reveal Sesshomaru's hiding spot. _Ah-Un, now would be a wonderful time to…_

A little bit of luck, or maybe centuries together, had timed Ah-Un's surprise appearance with the other pair in Rin's room perfectly with the moment that the female grabbed the robe from off the sword stand. Her focus was forward on what she was revealing but she couldn't help but be slightly distracted by the commotion made by twin-headed dragon's with orders to stop anyone who entered the little human's room (without killing them, if possible) who had just encountered two hostile soldiers in said packmate's room – they made quite the racket. As it was, her partner was completely distracted. _Perfect._

There were no swords on the stand that he was crouching behind at present, so the female say a fairly clear path to her disturbing looking target. But as the female lunged forward with a, "Gotcha!" Sesshomaru shifted the stand under his hands in a quick movement so that she was left with two choices: fall over herself to stop the motion completely or twist her hand slightly so she could still grab the toad with her arm slightly twisted around the wooden piece on the right.

Any sword that would be put on the stand would have probably devastated any idiot who tried to pick it up, but somewhere along the line someone had thought to steal great swords of the Inu clan leader by lifting the entire stand. Now the stand had a special magic that affected anyone without its master's touch. In this case Sesshomaru had used the peculiar wording of the spell to his advantage; he had kept touching the stand until the female soldier had been in the position he had wanted her in, where her body would shield him from the line of sight of the monkey, and then he removed his hand. Because her skin was touching the wood when he removed his touch from the stand, she was instantly frozen in place. There was no cry of surprise or pain, though Sesshomaru knew that there was a great deal of pain dealt out by the spell, she simply stopped moving – and he was the only one that could release her and only once he got his youki back, and if he chose to.

_I have to give her credit for still being willing to grab this hideous body but what daiyoukai Lord would leave his weapons unprotected, even in his study? Guts but no brains. Now to get the attention of the other one…_

A loud shout brought the monkey guard's attention back to his partner quickly but all he could see was her leaning forward on her knee, bent over with her arm outstretched, as if looking for something. He came up quickly to see why she had made such a noise and jumped in surprise as he felt something grab his arm from under the frozen soldier that he had been reaching out to touch. The monkey seemed to be too shocked to move as the lumpy green creature gabbed him with a – a quill?

He looked at the little thing and laughed as he grabbed it by the back of the neck and dangled it in front of his face. Over his shoulder he hollered, "Hey captain, I got something for … (blink, blink) …ya."

_Six heartbeats, seven heartbeats_, Sesshomaru ignored the pain and started to wiggle in the demon's grip.

"What did ya…?" the guard grunted.

_Eight heartbeats_ – _too little, too late, my stupid friend,_ Sesshomaru thought as the idiotic soldier tried to reach his second hand up to contain his squirming prisoner. As his heart beat for the tenth time since Sesshomaru had stabbed him with the quill filled with the viscid blue substance Sesshomaru had just enough time and preparatory wiggling that he was able to escape in time and be saved from being crushed under the monkey's body as it fell face first on the ground, foaming at the mouth.

_Anti-toxin_, he silently answered the prostrate form. He marveled at the fact that the anti-toxin was extremely harmful without the presence of the toxin it was suppose to counteract, his toxin. It was almost as deadly, it just took longer to work – ten heartbeats circulated it enough and five days to kill. If the toxin was not administered to the youkai in five days he would die, but at least the anti-toxin was much less painful than the toxin. He had had it made just in case something was to happen to Rin (he could never see himself being that sloppy but he was a firm believer in the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy). He was well aware of the irony that while he was missing his claws and teeth he was still somehow saved by them.

However, Sesshomaru did not have time to gloat or worry for the fate of his soldier at the moment. He could still hear a commotion from the other side of the hall, but more of the noise was in the hallway than in Rin's room now. A quick glance out the still open door he had ran to showed the strange black eyed captain pulling a unconscious figure out of Rin's room by its leg, leaving a trail of blood behind on the tatami and wood of the room and hall respectively. Half a second later Ah-Un was standing in the doorway; Ah roaring a challenge and Un hissing in extreme agitation.

Un, with his head lower to the ground, saw the imp standing in the doorway and, still hissing at the intruders, tipped his head ever so slightly to the left letting Sesshomaru know, **We will keep up fuss, distract this one. You can go now.**

Sesshomaru used the replied in the same basic body language that the companions had used without thought for hundreds of years with each other. The small lift of the chin and half lidded eyes told the dragons, **I have** **a plan. You withdraw**.

The black in black orbs of the young special forces youkai turned with a narrowed gaze at the door where the imp stood a second before Ah-Un stopped their aggression and backed up with both heads lowered snouts up so that their necks formed a very serpentine 's', **Yes, Master, but this one is worth watching out for.**

The barest touch sent the door crashing closed and the magical lock clicked into place, cutting of the increasingly intense gaze. Before he could step back he felt the force of the youkai on the other side trying to get in. Sesshomaru felt the magic of the room strengthen as an increasing amount of youki was pressed against the barrier. _Yes, worth watching indeed. He caught onto our little communication and I saw the wheels turning in his head. And all that raw youki – he's a fairly strong upper-mid or lower-high level youkai. Who is this fellow? _

He headed to the secret passage again with confidence. He knew that the room would hold against most daiyoukai, and while this chap was strong, he wasn't that strong. The rest of the castle would have to fall to ruin before any of the doors in this wing would budge if the Lord of the House of the West locked them. The only barrier stronger in the castle was his own personal chamber and the secret passage, the latter he was about to use to get to the former.

In the dark passage he hustled, grabbing the spare robes of Rin's that he had left in the passage earlier. He wrapped himself in it completely and stepped into his own chamber. Once in the room he ran around the room as much as he could to get Rin's scent everywhere (so the youkai couldn't track his scent trail and would assuming that Rin was allowed in the room and not paying attention to it) and to stash the other spare robes (so that there were other areas with her concentrated scent other than just him). Then he moved into position, balanced on a tall chest of drawers that held his own garments to the side of the door, to wait for the door's release.

From his place on the drawers he looked at the door and stroked the carved surface almost tenderly for a moment in quiet contemplation. It was massive wooden doors, a rarity in a Japanese home but a symbol of the solidity of the Master of the Castle, and touched the door. He paused for a moment to savor the feel that the room had thanks to this impenetrable entranceway and the special space that it protected. He remembered his father's large frame preceding him down the hall of the family wing, tension singing through every muscle of his broad back. His father would pause outside this door with his clawed hand resting on the handle and it was as if, as he pushed the door open, he took of the mantle of Lord and Master and was left to be just himself, an inu with his pup. Almost without fail he would turn and gently shut the doors with a sigh and at the sound of the soft click of the door's latch and lock catching the great and mighty Inu no Taisho would smile a tender and true smile that only showed up when he was alone with his pup.

His father would never really cuddle him but in private, behind this door, they were intimate in that way family is, the frequent touches that were vital to inu's sanity, grooming that solidified the bond and interdependency of the inu family, the games of strategies (shogi and go) which were the only way the clever general could his increasingly serious son to forget himself and enjoy something for the simple pleasure of it, sleeping in close proximity that provided them both with a sense of security and rightness that allowed them to relax – Sesshomaru into the sleep that his still growing body needed and his father into the closest semblance to peace a world with a missing mate could offer (and sleep on the rare occasion that he needed it) and later in life hours of conversation and simply enjoying each other's presence. That door had stood as the guard to their private life and Sesshomaru had always kept his father's habit of leaving his responsibilities on the other side of it and finding sanctuary beyond in the only place that he could let his guard down. It was a sacred place to him and what was coming next was difficult for him.

He took a deep breath; even without his senses he could smell home all around him. He loathed the thought of what he was about to do next but under the circumstance he couldn't see much of an option. He was going to use his only sanctuary within his world of responsibility to set a trap, open the doors and let another being enter a place that held such precious memories, a place that none but his father and himself had entered in over a millennia, not even Rin. A brief smile touched his face at the thought that there was now, after almost three hundred years, another person that could be let in, that was family and welcome to share in the intimacies the room represented to the daiyoukai. _Kagome. Family. Finally, another. An end to being so alone._

With the reassurance that the room would be reclaimed in the future with new family he released the door's magic lock. He must have been waiting outside the door because the unknown youkai came immediately flung the door back and entered cautiously but quickly.

Sesshomaru had seen the speed of both this creature's body and mind so he moved as quickly as possible, launching himself from his position balanced into empty air six feet from the door, anticipating the youkai's forward movement. (Sesshomaru had been in that body for over two weeks and while he would razed heaven and earth to get his rightful self back he was not about to be completely awkward in the body – at least anymore than he could help – so he had been training with it while traveling with and training Kagome.)

The youkai did not disappoint him, in fact, he did better than he had thought possible. In the half second that he had been in the room the strange youkai had ignored the fact that he was in the private area of the most feared youkai Lord in Japan and focused solely on locating his prey, which he did quite efficiently when he turned and grabbed Sesshomaru out of mid air where he had been about to land on the soldier's back.

That hadn't gone quite how he had hoped, the youkai's reaction time was phenomenal, but he could work with it. Thanks to the free fall his deformed little arms had been flailing wildly so it was not a hard task to get skin to skin contact, small hand to side of the head. Ironically it was where he was able to brush skin to skin for the first time that he understood what he had let into his bedroom. He felt small divots all along the jaw line, above and below. It was a snake, not a poisonous snake, no – with those heat sensitive pits along his jaw he was most likely a constrictor of some kind – meaning Sesshomaru had to act fast because being caught by this thing was probably the worst way to confront it as they were skilled grapplers and almost every part of their bodies had the strength and flexibility to squeeze their opponents to death.

But Sesshomaru was already where he needed to be. In physical contact with another youkai, one whose beast they could subjugate.

_My turn!_ His beast howled as it was released to its hunt. With conquest in mind Sesshomaru's beast raced into the other's mind, flashing quickly on a mindscape where a snake sat coiled and ready to strike. Sesshomaru, in mammoth dog form, grabbed the much smaller (only by comparison) snake in its jaws and just continued to traipse right on through.

The beast broke down the other's defenses, leaving the mind open to Sesshomaru, who took the answers to his questions from the young one's mind. He, Sharad, had come from India because he was totally obsessed with stories the tragic story of the mated daiyoukai who only had one son. Apparently the snake had spent years collecting all the information he could about the story and about the son, Sesshomaru, and had a serious case of hero worship – for Sesshomaru – and had come to this island to enlist in the service of the Lord of the West (against his families better judgment – but hey, have you ever seen how many hatchlings there are in a clutch, they had plenty of other children to lord over, Sharad's thoughts, not Sesshomaru's).

The exchange took maybe a minute. Once the snake had seen the mental image of the giant white dog he had known who he was dealing with, he had already suspected (that's why he was waiting at the door to the master suite), and he was ready to do whatever Sesshomaru wanted him to do.

Sesshomaru actually felt a little sick to his stomach at the boy, and that's what he was – a boy, barely full grown. He looked down at the kid who had gently set him on the ground and then kneeled so that his head was lower, and to be lower than the imps frame meant he was bowed completely, practically kissing the ground he walked on. Sesshomaru was feared, he was awe inspiring, he was impressive and majestic and amazing – but he wasn't worthy of being a youngster's hero – even he found that… disturbing.

"Haha, you managed to get an unexpected free-be out of this one – very well – for being loved as a hero and having the ground you walk on kissed you can have your claws back. Be thankful to and take good care of this devotee."

The deep male voice echoed through Sesshomaru's mind and he felt the powerful presence of what must have been a god. He was immobile for the short speech and when he was released the presence was gone, though Sesshomaru had a feeling it wouldn't be his last encounter with this particular being.

As he came back to himself he could smell a strong, peculiar scent, almost like burning wood and sweet syrup. He looked down and he felt his heart take flight. He was thrilled – he had burnt holes in his bedroom floor – with his acid.

He had his claws back.

****Author's Note******

I have to say that I really enjoyed writing this chapter but it was a challenge to get the sequencing and descritions right. I hope that the little mid-skirmish flashbacks weren't too confusing. I thought about leaving them out but that would have taken away the look into Sesshomaru that the fight offered. I edited the chapter 4 times but I still feel like there are some rough spots, so please overlook them. Hope you enjoy it – and if you do I would love to hear from you…

On that note:

Thank you **Inuyashagirl18** for your encouraging review. I love repeat reviewers, it lets me know that there are readers who liked how I started and how I'm continuing.

**Blackmoon OniOokami** and **Yuki-Yasha Higurashi** – both of you guys wrote really nice, encouraging and super hilarious reviews for Chapter 22 – thank you.


	24. Chapter 24

It's been a while so here's **a recap** of what was happening last with Kagome in Chapter 22:

_Sesshomaru's mental communication was cut off by the shrill voice of Rin as she screamed in excitement. "Really! Mr. Inuyasha is coming here? Does that mean that I can play with Shippo?"_

_Kagome's poor heart all but stopped at that. "Inuyasha?" she whispered._

_Suddenly there was complete silence, even Rin had stopped her chattering midsentence. Kagome become painfully aware that every creature around that corner had focused their senses and youki at her corner, she could feel it through the stone._

_Oops. I slipped__. Her inner voice wind chime voice sounded embarrassed._

_Kagome did a quick check of how well her defenses were being maintained and where they had slipped. The shock of hearing that Inuyasha was coming and the not so great leap of logic of a combined force with such a familiar collection of youkai and hanyou had impaired her concentration but only slightly, but it was a pretty devastating 'slightly'._

_Sesshomaru squeezed her neck and sent her a quick plan and a quiet reassuring message before he slid down her back and hit the floor. "__Remember, twenty minutes__."_

_You forgot to hide HIM? How could you cover only me, stupid powers? How could I slip up like that? __She thought as she did as Sesshomaru told her to and slipped into the secret panel that he opened with a touch before he disappeared around the bend at the end of the hall they had been in. __What will they do if they catch him in here?_

_With him smelling like you and Inuyasha beating on their doors with a large force of soldiers and reiki users… not anything good. But do you think that Sesshomaru will let himself get caught?_

_No, but…__ she thought without any confidence as she stood with a hand touching the door that led back to the main corridor to the family wing where she had seen Sesshomaru run a distraction for her, to cover her mistake. She could hear several pairs of heavy footsteps running past with others shouting orders from further away. __He's not completely himself right now._

**Frog Prince: Chapter 24: Bang Bang**

Kagome quietly made her way down the slope of the passage and then back up as she approached her goal – Sesshomaru's public study, the small room behind the large audience room where Sesshomaru carried out the public interviews and meetings of his position. It was where Jaken was headed with Rin, and those two were definitely on Kagome's "Don't Let Them Get Away" List.

She found the door that she was supposed to wait at. Sesshomaru had said twenty minutes. Her heart started to flutter at that thought. _Is he going to be alright by himself? I mean, I know he's Sesshomaru and all, but that 'and all' is very short, green and wimpy right now._

She felt something in her chest chime as her inner voice reassured her of what she knew to be the truth, _Sesshomaru is Sesshomaru. Six feet plus of rock hard youkai bad ass or pint sized, squishy imp-ness – he said he would be here in twenty minutes and come hell or high water he will be here._

_I didn't even know I used terms like "come hell or high water" – we're starting to sound like a bad American western rather than the fantasy Samurai flick we should be. _She thought with her humor and confidence in Sesshomaru restored. _About ten minutes left…_

She leaned forward, so that her hand and right ear were pressed against the door. She would have closed her eyes to increase her focus on her hearing but it was already pitch black so she didn't bother. She thought she heard a strange buzzing, there was pitch and a cadence so she was sure that she was hearing someone speaking. She focused harder, drawing as much power as she dared out of her core. Sesshomaru had passed her a great deal of information over the past few days of their budding … relationship…friendship… partnership – pick a word, because none came even close to capturing the strange interaction and trust that was slowly building between the two – but she did now know to what extent the secret passageway was hidden and she didn't want to give herself away by shining like a giant miko beacon in the middle of demon central. Still she felt compelled to hear the words – the question being asked on the other side of the door.

She felt her powers intensify, sending tingles through her limbs as her powers began to circulate with her body. Then she pulled it all into the parts of her that were focused on the other side of the door.

She was able to hear it then, but not so much with her ears as with her power. It took her a moment to comprehend what she was hearing, and another to accept it. What she was hearing was the whisper of ancient magic humming along the contact points between her and the door. The Palace of the Western Lord was asking her, without words, who she was and by what authority she was hidden away within its secret of secrets.

Kagome, not knowing what else to do let her powers and heart answer, "I am me."

The magic of the place pulled on her powers, like a sommelier taking a sip of wine, drawing it in to taste the bouquet offered. She felt more than heard the sigh of the walls as it recognized its new master and released the magic catch holding the secret door closed.

Kagome had half a second to go from wonderment that it opened up for her – because she was its master? – to realizing that she had to pull her powers, scent and everything in close before she was exposed to the room beyond whose occupants were yet unknown.

She stepped back against the wall on the far side from the door to wait and see what happened. The door had relaxed its magical grip but it had not opened. She used her minimized powers to focus on what she could hear and smell. She was far from proficient at such means of detection but she did not hear anything from the other side of the door any longer (though she figured earlier she hadn't really heard anything from beyond the door since it was kind of the door itself – and for the millionth time she marveled at the queerness of her life). With a shake of her head she focused as she stepped up to the door and gently pushed on it so that a tiny crack of light was visible.

She put her eye to the slit and peered into what must be Sesshomaru's public study. It was small with an understated elegance. The space held a hint of the Sesshomaru but the sophistication of the space was not indicative of the youkai with simple tastes that she was getting to know, it was a room meant for receiving people whom needed know their place, below him.

And thankfully it was completely empty.

She pressed again on the door and it silently slid open. Her whole body was tense with anticipation. She feared her impending detection and her chest ached from her adrenaline induced pulse as she tip toed into the room.

_Why am I tip-toeing?_ She asked herself, as she paused half way to the only door in the room. _I'm muting the sound as it is and at this point I'm in the lion's den, as it were. It's in for a penny in for a pound, and all that jazz._

_What is up with us and these outdated quips_! Megoka laughed at their own antiquated references._And it's for effect. Don't you feel like you're being sneaky when you tip-toe, all spy like. If only I had a Pink Panther costume it'd be perfect._

She had to clasp her hand over her mouth to stop the giggle from escaping as she imagined a cartoon version of herself in an all pink footie-pajama style costume complete with a hood with little pink ears.

_That's better_, her inner voice purred, _too high strung and you're liable to snap and mess something up. We cannot afford that right now with everything – Sesshomaru trapped in toad form, exiled from his own home and currently being chased down by several armed and aggressive youkai guards AND Inuyasha, best friend and well known traveling companion of yours truly, apparently setting siege to his brother's well fortified palace – and let's not even get started on where he came up with a small army! He's barely manages his pack of a half dozen how did he get a freakin' ARMY! Anywho, it's my job to keep you functioning at maximum efficiency and stressed to the max is absolutely the wrong max. Relax, stay calm and focus – we got this._

She felt her shoulders relax and she stood, smiling again at thoughts of fuzzy pink pajamas, and walked to the door. She placed her ear to the door and focusing once again on enhancing her hearing. She could make out Rin's happy voice chattering away. _At least we haven't lost track of her yet._

She took a deep breath and allowed Megoka to dictate her actions for the moment while she just focused. Her entire body relaxed and she felt a calm akin to that of meditation sweep through her body, followed closely by the warm tingle of increased power flow. She could hear and mentally map out everything in the next room.

It was large and there were several groups of two or three talking about supplies and preparations, Jaken was talking with the man Kagome was able to identify as Kyo from the memories she had from Sesshomaru and Rin was talking to a very silent someone or something she kept calling Mr. Doggie.

"We must put her _there_," the strong tenor of the dog demon who was now part of her extended pack caught her attention. He was talking about moving Rin, and it didn't sound like it was somewhere that would be good for Sesshomaru's chances of getting his teeth back – keeping Rin in sight was of the utmost importance. "It's the most thoroughly shielded place in the entire palace and almost no one knows of its existence, and if they do they don't know where it actually is. She will be safest there and we both know that that is the most important thing. Can you imagine what would happen if our Lord returned to find we had not protected her."

Kagome could clearly hear the fear in his voice at the thought of an enraged daiyoukai. Jaken's voice trembled with matching trepidation as he concurred with his cohort, "That would be bad, very, very bad. Rin."

Kagome heard the girlish babble that had been a constant stream in the background stop and tiny feet tap across the floor to stop in front of the space Jaken's voice was coming from.

"Yes, master Jaken?"

"Rin, you need to go with Kyo now."

"Rin does not want to. Mr. Doggie and Rin think that Rin should be here when Lord Sesshomaru returns. Mr. Doggie says that Lord Sesshomaru desperately needs Rin's help."

The entire room fell silent at her proclamation. All the big bad demons focused on the little girl that not only seemed to be displaying signs of mental illness (she had been talking to empty air for several days) but seemed to indicate that she in some way able to assist their great Lord (an extreme insult to his person and position in their minds). Kagome could hear Jaken mumble under his breath, meaning everyone in the room heard him when he said, "Blasted **human**, now is not the time to create rebellious imaginary friends."

Jaken's attempt to write off the girls unintentional offenses did not work very well. Kagome, in her near meditative state and miko energy flow upped, realized that she could sense the emotions in the room. Jaken was aware of the general dislike of humans in the palace and was hoping to write it off as strange and uncouth human behavior. However, the hostile feelings only intensified as her humanity was pointed out. She felt several spikes of murderous intent, some out of outright rage and hatred for her species and some out of a sense of duty to protect their Lord. Either one was enough to rile Kagome's protective instincts. She liked the girl a lot to start off with, and now she was kind-of pack and more importantly she was important to Sesshomaru. Her powers began to spike and she felt her personal barrier wobble at the force of her anger and she wondered if it was worth keeping quiet.

Just as she was deciding that it was not worth it to keep quiet and was about charge into the room with a Zeus imitation using miko lightening bolts she felt another youki flare that was impressive in its own anger. Kyo's voice had dropped an octave when he spoke through gritted teeth. "All of you go to your posts. We do not want to be caught unprepared, so for now it is important that we have everyone in place in case our enemy decides to move. Be sure to utilize the runner's network to transmit any information, use the hare youkai for the important pieces. Dismissed."

She felt the entire room pause, she could only guess that they were looking at each other to gauge everyone's reaction. The reaction, according to her senses, was not good. Now they were angry at the human and the weak-hearted inu that protected what was potentially harmful to their Lord. Still, his position must have carried a great deal of weight because all of the youkai began to file out of the room silently. Though it was definitely a charged silence.

The room was almost empty, all but for the one fire that burned the brightest with hatred, Kyo called out again. "Rika, shut the door and come here for a moment."

There was a silence, followed by the sound of a door sliding shut and a single set of footsteps coming back into the room. Kyo spoke again, very low, so low that she almost missed it, "This is an order that will never be repeated and if you carry it out without aggravation I will kill you, and in failing that our Lord surely will when he returns. Stand by Rin." A pause and foot shuffles and an increased agitation in the youkai's aura as her hate and disgust skyrocketed. "Now, if the intruder does anything stupid you may hurt the girl."

Kagome's heart froze at the word intruder. Surely he could not have known she was there. Then her mind processed the rest of the statement – he was giving permission to harm Rin a being that wished for nothing more than the little girl's death. And she could feel the anticipation rolling of the youkai in question and the disbelief and fear rolling off of Jaken who was sputtering incoherent objections rather loudly.

Kyo brought her focus back to him by speaking directly at her through the door. "Don't be shocked. It's rare to meet another empath, I'm interested to see what type of youkai you are, but I could easily feel your senses sweeping the room so you are either sloppy or untrained – either way you are trapped. This is your one chance to surrender without getting hurt. Now come out, and like I said, do anything threatening, anything at all, and Rin is the one that will feel the consequences – and I know you can sense the joy Rika would take in doing something like that."

Kagome heard the door slam open and several more demons entered the room. Kagome heart beat madly against her ribs as her adrenaline surged, quite a shock to her system after her previous extremely subdued state. Her eyes were open now and she found she had taken several steps away from the door and was staring at it in horror. She was trying to decide if she needed to make a quick escape back through the secret door when she heard a noise that stopped her in her tracks. But she couldn't leave if there was any chance that they would hurt Rin.

The girl in question called out to her, "Pretty Lady, Mr. Doggie says that it's okay, you can come in."

The demoness holding her must not have liked the girl speaking because Rin cried out in pain and then continued to whimper, bordering on tears by sounds of the sharp gasps she was taking.

Kagome's instincts, now given more power to influence her with the ascension of her avatar, flared with violent protectiveness. Her powers were suddenly turned up to 11 and, unbeknownst to her she was radiating a pink aura and her eyes were lost in the surge of power so she had only glowing white orbs.

As she hit the door she heard without really hearing some creative expletives, several of which expressed their shock at finding not a mid-level youkai spy but a very high powered human miko.

Kagome was through the door, charging at a black haired demoness, slamming her against the wall and beating on her with miko power charged fists of rage before any of the rude remarks could be finished, no matter how brief they were. It was less than five second until the demoness lay in a pile with gashes and burns all over her face, upper body and arms (defensive wounds for when the demoness realized she was outmatched) but all hell had broken loose behind her.

She had felt the flare of Kyo's now familiar youki but had dismissed it, not knowing or understanding all the things that youkai did with their energies. He had been calling for reinforcements, and lots had arrived, including more that were more than willing to harm Rin. Two such creatures were manhandling said girl, dragging her away from the miko and their fallen fellow.

In that moment Kagome understood the term seeing red. Her instincts, now fully awake after Sesshomaru's tutelage, knew that humans had at one time been pack animals, too, just as fierce as any of the canine species. Her base self knew weak members were the most closely guarded of a group and young were always the fiercest protected. Nothing else in the world mattered but getting those two away from the defenseless human girl that was now hers to protect.

She didn't even see the three other soldiers coming at her, she was so focused on the little girl who now had a very red cheek from someone hitting her (thankfully it had been gently for a demon who could easily remove the child's head from her shoulders with a half-hearted swing). With her mind overrun with protective instincts Megoka was again helping focus energy to speed up reaction time and Kagome's mind was free to manipulate effective defensive and offensive forms for her powers to take.

It was a day for new experiences for Kagome as she felt time slow as she continued towards Rin despite the oncoming onslaught. Her mind was calm and clear and she felt like she had all the time in the world to make her decisions and take her actions. She dismissed her traditional bow and arrow because of the close range nature of this fight. She would have loved something elegant and deathly beautiful like Sesshomaru's whip but she did not know how to use a whip so she didn't think she'd do so well with one made of energy. (She had seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, even the hero can be hurt with his weapon if he doesn't know how to use it.) The same thought applied to a katana, not only did she not know how to use one but her opponents did. She wanted something good for both ranged attack and melee and thought about knives but didn't really want to get that up-close and personal with higher level youkai with swords and claws and felt unsure about her technique and aim if she were to throw them. She didn't know how to use a boomerang or kama like Sango and had no idea how she would even make anything like a wind tunnel with her powers.

She needed something that was easy, fast, accurate and brutal. Her mind turned in that stretched out moment trying to conceive of a weapon that would make her able to take on multiple, stronger, more skilled enemy youkai – what could make a human as vicious as a youkai? Then her mind clicked on a new idea. Why was she sticking with feudal weapons, she was a modern girl from a world just as dangerous as this one in its own way – people had developed a very effective means of killing that had put them at the top of the food chain that was also a pretty much a no-brainer on technique and aim, even for a beginner.

Her hand which had never stopped glowing suddenly seemed to glow like a captive star. In the way children all over the world have done she held out her hand, thumb up, pointer out and the rest curled under. Without even turning her head from her true targets she raised her arm and aimed at the approaching youkai that she could see in her peripheral vision and could sense as their youki came in aggressive waves at her and dropped her thumb 'firing' her hand-gun. She felt a small ball of her power condensate and condense in her center, about where her heart was and fly down her arm and along the path that she willed it. It felt much like when she charged an arrow with her holy powers and fired it, only she had an even greater awareness of it.

She felt the 'bullet' fly and could follow its path even as she turned and fired another. As she fired the third at the last, barely needing to turn her body to make the shot, she felt the first one hit its target in the right shoulder, taking out most of it and leaving the arm barely still attached to its body. The second one hit the guard in the lower left chest/upper stomach area. The third on took out most of the last one's left thigh. But while she could feel it, track it and vaguely realize that all of her shots were ones that had incapacitated all of them for a time, none were fatal shots. Even in a rage she was merciful, but that mercy was about to be wiped away as when one of the youkai that had Rin decided the best way to deal with the situation was to take opportunity and kill Rin and hopefully distract or dishearten the rampaging miko.

Kagome was able to feel the shift in the demon's aura as the third 'bullet' took down her attackers in less than a second. She was moving at demon speed with miko powers and that was just hella scary to him – them, she realized. She was surrounded by uber powerful beings that were trying not to wet their pants in her presence. She belatedly realized that she had indeed put Rin at extreme risk by her rash behavior, but Megoka pushed it away to help Kagome focus on the important things of the moment.

She felt the youkai's resolve and watched as if in slow motion as the demon's claws go for the girl's tender neck. She felt her insides freeze with fear and burn in anger. There was a pressure that had been building inside her and she realized that her powers were preparing to go super nova. The moment she saw the red of Rin's blood she knew that Sesshomaru's people were going to die. She felt sorry for that, but she could not hesitate or Rin would be dead and she knew there would be horrible consequences to both her and Sesshomaru's psyches, not to mention Rin's health, if that were to happen. She was protecting more than one little girl, and if she had to purify a few of Sesshomaru's key people to do it she would.

Suddenly Sesshomaru was standing in front of her, distracting her eyes for just a moment, as she marveled at how wonderful he looked with his silver hair and trademark white outfit and wondering why he was standing there looking at her instead of rescuing Rin. It was just a moment that her her focus had shifted but it was enough time for Kyo to complete his desperate last ditch attempt to save the youkai in the room and beyond from the impending miko atomic explosion.

He had stepped in and stopped the youkai who was about to rip out Rin's throat, scooped her up in his arms and was walking towards Kagome with his head slightly bent and to the side – inu body language supplication. His youki was broadcasting a stand down signal to everyone in the room, though Kagome did not know that and stayed hyper aware of everyone in the room.

She waited. He was moving human slow, giving her time to watch him and decide what to do. She wasn't going to attack him unless he did something to hurt Rin himself, which was highly unlikely considering he was also the little girl's pack and instincts would have told him to protect her. Kyo was Sesshomaru's pack, too, so Kagome's responsibility as well. She didn't want to hurt him but when he set Rin on her feet directly in front of Kagome she felt the intense need to reprimand a misbehaving lesser pack member that had endangered one of their young. Her hand shot out and slapped him, but while she could run and move faster she was not able to increase her strength so the slap was ineffectual. The backhand that had more than a touch of miko power behind it seared his cheek and left blisters and brought tears to his eyes. He fell to his hands and knees before her and stayed there like a good submissive pack member.

Kagome, sure that Kyo was doing what he should be doing (she hated having these instincts because they were new and confusing and so compelling despite her lack of understanding, but she was thankful that they were at least sure of themselves and what she should do and what everyone else should be doing – if she gave it some time it might make life a little bit simpler, then again, looking around her she hadn't liked where it had gotten her this time around.) With a quick look over her shoulder confirmed that Sesshomaru was indeed standing behind the trio keeping an eye on the rest of the occupants she knelt to inspect Rin for damage.

Rin stood still for Kagome's inspection, silent tears running down her cheeks. Half of Rin's face was already showing deep bruises and her left eye was swollen nearly shut. She had a small cut on her throat that was bleeding. At the whimper that Rin obviously tried to hide when Kagome's hands touched her upper right arm she felt her anger reawaken that anyone would dare to harm such an angelic child. It was clearly broken, and by a quick judge of her experienced hands she knew it was a bad break – actually probably several breaks, but nothing was sticking out at the moment and that was good.

Kagome's emotions were all over the place at this moment, but she tried pushing as much down as possible and focused on the frightened child in front of her. She brushed Rin's hair out of her eyes and looked closely at the girl's face, trying to discern the extent of the emotional and mental damage that being held hostage might have caused. Kagome saw hints of fear and pain but the main emotion reflected in the innocent brown eyes was trust, a strange absolute trust that only children in their naïveté could have. Tears welled up in Kagome's eyes as she looked at that trust and knew that she did not deserve that trust at the moment, it was her fault that the girl was injured.

"Pretty Lady, don't worry. Mr. Doggie said that Lord Sesshomaru sent you to protect me because he was busy. Mr. Doggie and Lord Sesshomaru trust you. Rin does not think that Pretty Lady did anything wrong. Don't cry."

Then Kagome felt it, the feeling of Rin. It was not like a demon's youkai but it was. She had never felt anything like it from a human, though she didn't know if she would have ever been able to tell even if she had considering how 'head-blind' she had been before Sesshomaru had gotten his claws on her. Still something told her that this was something fairly rare and not very human. She suddenly felt a kinship to the little not-so-human little girl – a fellow outcast from normal.

There was no words to Rin's 'voice' like with Ah-Un or even the Matriarch, and not the presence and intelligence of Sesshomaru and his Beast – but it was a sense that Rin had a different type of energy and it was an energy that could connect and be understood by those who had their own energy. Now she understood how the human hating Western Lord had come to adopt a human child – she radiated her soul in an energy in a very not-human way that he would have had to have sensed. And she was indeed radiant – trusting and joyful even in a situation like this, with a severely broken arm, battered face and having just been betrayed by many different beings on a variety of levels.

Kagome pulled the girl into a tight hug and laughed at her conflicted feelings. She felt much better she felt having the girl safe in her arms and never wanted to let the vulnerable little thing go, but at the same time wanted nothing more than to go knock some skulls and a very serious and violent manner. She settled for picking up the girl, mindful of the broken arm she was cradling, and put her on her hip. Rin was a bit big for such treatment but Kagome's instincts would not let her not hold her close, and with Rin's good arm around her neck and her skinny little legs sticking out of her yukata wrapped around her waist like a baby monkey meant it wasn't completely impossible. Sesshomaru would deal with anymore troublemakers if the need arose and she would be able to keep Rin out of harm's way.

She turned to confront the room of offending demons with two arms protectively around the girl.

She was only slightly surprised to notice for the first time that Jaken was also standing behind them with his staff of heads at the ready. He was silent for the first time Kagome could remember but then she noticed the fine tremor that shook his whole body. Kagome could not feel any youki from him (his type of demon didn't have youki like most youkai had) but she knew rage when she saw it. He was a very pissed of little toad with a staff that spit fire, and looked more than willing to use it. He, being a part of Rin's pack, and Kagome suspected a hidden fondness for the human, would have been equally enraged at Rin's injuries.

Kagome looked over her shoulder at the other pack member where he was still bowed on the floor. She said, "Come." in a voice that said she meant business but she saw him stiffen at the command. She turned full towards him and put a hand on his head and felt his youki rise up to challenge her. Her avatar answered with force and authority, she was Sesshomaru's family and had the right to command his pack, which was her pack as well, besides its what she wanted and at the moment she was set on getting what she wanted, and if force was necessary to accomplish that to be it. "_**You will obey to me**_."

He would not obey her command. He refused. He belonged to Sesshomaru and his loyalty would only ever be to the Western Lord. He had felt her power blaze and had done what he thought was best to save Sesshomaru's people and palace. It was the same reason he had put Rin in Rika's hands with approval to injure the girl – it was for his Lord.

When she touched him he was prepared to resist her but her power crashed down on him.

He had only felt power like that on a few rare occasions, when Inu no Taisho or Sesshomaru had been exceedingly upset and on the verge of transforming. He knew that if she had wanted to she could have killed every youkai in the room, in the palace. And that he had no chance of winning a battle of power or wills with this woman. He had lost. But he would die before he would obey someone other than his alpha and lord.

Her powers flared over him, pushing into him, telling him to obey her, telling him she had the authority to.

Kyo was a special youkai, one of the rare canines born with extraordinary intuition, which is what had gotten him such an honored place as to be his lordships companion and eventually pack member. He had developed it into true empathy and it was granting him an unusual view into the almost hidden connections in the miko's powers. It was shocking that this human miko felt not only like a member of the Inu clan, but specifically of the Taisho clan. The exceedingly strange thing was that she felt not only to belong to one branch of Inu no Taisho's clan but both. One was an older connection, to the other brother, long and strange, like it had two contact points, but it was sure and strong. The other was new, less strong but somehow more at the same time – it was a familial bond with Lord Sesshomaru – an impossibility on so many, many levels.

In shock and awe his eyes shot up to look into hers. He could feel her undeniable connection with his alpha. But then again he had already had a suspicion that she had some connection to his lord, just not...

He was genuinely fond of Rin and he recognized that there was an oddness about the girl, even beyond her tiny 'voice' that humans didn't have. She had never lied and the recent development of her imaginary friend, Mr. Doggie, at the exact time that Sesshomaru 'left for training' (read: disappeared) was too coincidental for him to write off. He suspected she knew something more about what was going on than they did. However, when he asked her all she would say is the Mr. Doggie said that it was a secret and to trust Lord Sesshomaru. When Rin started talking about Mr. Doggie and Lord Sesshomaru in the same sentence as this miko, Pretty Lady by Rin's reckoning, Kyo had begun to suspect that he was seeing another player in the mysterious circumstances surrounding his lord, but he would never have even imagined that she would be...was…is…whatever she it is that she is.

Confusion won out in his eyes and the press of the miko's powers receded and she touched his youki gentle with hers, asking to 'talk'. He knew that if she demanded she could trample his mind into the ground and dance in his memories so he acquiesced, let her make contact with his inner self.

"Kyo." Kyo's eyes opened even wider in shocked surprise and then began to tear up. He had never heard such a wonderful sound in his life. He felt her call. She called with her own power and will as an alpha in her own right, but also his alpha, his protector and leader. And she called with her heart, the call of a special soul that was made of light and cleansing rain, reaching out to him in acknowledgement of connection. She was a siren to his youkai nature and he would gladly succumb, since she obviously had his lord's approval – and he completely concurred with his lord's good taste.

"Yes, mistress." Kagome felt his response and knew that he would listen to her. His youki had more or less rolled over like the dog he really was and asked her to rub his belly.

Having concurred that hurdle she turned back to see what Sesshomaru had been up to. With Kyo at her back, half way between a guard dog and a besotted puppy, she walked up to stand on the other side of Sesshomaru from Jaken, looking at the scene she had created.

While it had felt like a long time to since she had stepped out of the hidden passage way but with demon speed, both in battle and in communication through youki, it had only been a matter of minutes. The demon's she had injured were still bleeding all over the tatami and the guards were still tense along the far wall waiting for either orders or an opportunity to finish the fight.

Without turning she asked Sesshomaru, "So, not to be rude or anything, but when and how did you get your body back?"

She was answered with a deep, humorous chuckle and Jaken's squeaky voice, "What are you talking about you crazy wench? Who lost their body?"

_A humorous chuckle? Sesshomaru doesn't chuckle humorously, maybe maliciously or even manically every now and then, but not humorously. And if it's not Sesshomaru then who…? _Kagome turned slowly in that horror movie fashion, breath held, her mouth gaping slightly, face a mixture of horrified expectation and fearful anticipation, to the figure next to her,

Sesshomaru's face with Inuyasha's smile with ancient eyes looked down at her.

"I know you. You're – … um… dead."

"And you are either amazingly blunt or exceedingly rude."

Author's Note

I am honored to say that someone has actually been inspired to create fan art for my story. Thank you so much Wintersalad! Please check it out:http:/wintersalad. deviantart .com/art/Frog-Prince-174798893

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I have not forgotten or given up on this story. I think about it every day – but I have increasingly few opportunities to write; full time job, part time job and full time grad school keep me pretty busy. But let me reassure you I have every intention of finishing this story, it will just take a bit longer than I originally anticipated. Please be patient with me and thank you for sticking it out with me.

Thank you to all my reviewers**: J. Travis, Yuki-Yasha Higurashi, Wintersalad, Estriel, Inuyashasgirl18**, and if I missed you with the last chapter I want to get you this time around **Nanaccs**.

In defense of my choice of weapons for Kagome: I wrote it because it made sense to me and then I wanted to change it because I think that there will be several people who don't like that I chose to give her a gun. After trying to come up with another weapon that accomplished everything that I wanted to I realized that it just had to be a gun. I tried to explain the reasons in the story but in case I didn't do a good enough job I wanted to say that it is an easy weapon to use that allowed me and Kagome to incapacitate demons (tough little boogers) effectively while still being able to maintain her merciful side and not kill them. There was some time constraint in her thinking, even though time seemed to slow down for her a bit she still had a second to choose what to do and she needed something she felt sure of and if you have ever fired a gun it's pretty darn easy – and if you've ever seen the damage done by one, pretty darn effective. Firearms are also very American, Japanese kids get caught with knifes at school not guns like our kids, but I felt that there is enough American movie influence in foreign countries that not only show how to use a gun but show how easy it is to do damage for it to come to even a Japanese teenager's mind fairly readily. I also took out the materialization of the gun and left it with just her fingers so it wasn't really a gun that she had just the conceptualization of the weapon, attack and damage type. If you can't tell I put quite a lot of thought into this decision and I stand by it as the right one for this character in this situation. In another situation she might have made a different choice but as it was it's the one she and I made. Hope no one is too offended – and if you are, you can always write your own stories your own way.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Civil War

For the 9,742nd time Sesshomaru mentally cursed those responsible for his cursed state. Because of his diminutive size and his altered appearance he was stuck going to a snail's pace while chaos seized his compound. His legs were too short to go any faster than the waddle he currently maintained, his appearance had him labeled as an enemy in his own home so he had to be 'under guard' so he could neither move about independently nor send the one retainer who knew who he was away from him to check and report back on what was happening. The only good thing that the screaming had done was draw the attention of the other 6 guards who had shown up to help escort the 'prisoner' back to the large audience room, leaving Sharad free to at least convey what he was able to hear and feel to his lord.

"There is some serious fighting going on. There is so much youki everywhere that it's hard to determine what exactly. However, I think we might be under attack because there is a miko somewhere in the mix." Sharad said to the toad in front of him.

Sesshomaru's beast growled in his mind. Both Sesshomaru and his beast had known that she was somehow mixed up in the mess, undoubtedly at the center of it. But if Sharad still felt the priestess' powers that meant that she was still alive and fighting. Sesshomaru's heart and mind were equally split between fear for her safety and pride in her prowess.

As they finally reached the room that had been the initial site of the conflict Sesshomaru took a moment to process the state of his receiving hall and process the information that his eyes told him. There were two stages of fighting. The first was more or less centered around the door towards the back of the room which led to the study where the passage he had left Kagome in led to. _How did she manage to open the passage? It should be impossible for any but… the masters … and mistresses of the West._

His chest constricted with new emotions. She was something truly amazing if the ancient spells on the House of the West recognized her claim to the authority and power therein. The revelation that it wasn't just his feelings that had changed towards her, but a deeper, magical change that the greater powers of the universe recognized – that left him speechless and grateful for the miracle he was blessed with.

_Stupid, she not safe, yet_. His beast growled a reminder of the current situation to its master. With a whine that showed it shared Sesshomaru's affection for the trouble magnet he added an unnecessary, _Must hurry._

His eyes perused the room again quickly putting the last pieces of information into the puzzle. The first fight had left three guards and Rika on the ground reeking of human spiritual energy that even his depleted senses could smell. The second fight was much more confusing, it started further into the room and by the damage on the bodies it was clear that the demons had started fighting each other.

Sesshomaru's beast tried to sniff the air to get a better sense of what had happened and let out a roar of frustration and anger. He was walking into an unknown situation with so little information.

Sharad heard the unsubtle sniff and bubbly growl that the toad had made. Of course said toad had not realized it had made such an undignified noise and Sharad was not fool enough to point it out, but he could use it to try and serve his lord. His forked tongue flicked out several times in quick repetition. "Sorry, my lord, I am no dog. I can only relay that humans were in here and they left. Snakes are made for hunting prey not determining the multitude of scents that this room holds – and with the purifying energy still riding the air I'm even less effective…"

Sesshomaru glared at the snake for calling humans, at least this human, 'prey'. "Keep moving," he commanded both Sharad and himself, though Sharad interpreted the anger in his voice as displeasure at his lack of effectiveness. In fact, Sesshomaru was reprimanding himself more than the soldier; _I cannot afford to be hung up on what I cannot do, I must work with what I can do. This Sesshomaru is better than this. Focus._

_Yes, _his beast calmed his rage and set its energy and focus on what it could glean from the bodies they passed at they followed the path of destruction. The beast focused on what its limited senses and sight allowed it and Sesshomaru's mind was racing to put the pieces of information together to form a probable scenario.

So it was little surprise when to Sesshomaru when they finally reached the inner courtyard to find Kagome surrounded by a dozen of his most loyal retainers being attacked by what seemed like the rest of his forces. Then he noticed that wasn't quite right, there were actually many skirmishes happening all over the yard as more new people joined the crowd and they apparently chose sides. There were also a fair number of would-be mediators trying to stop their friends from fighting one another.

_She has been in my home for less than a day and there is a civil war_, even Sesshomaru who had seen from Kagome's own memories the crazy situations that always seemed to surround her was shocked at the magnitude of the insanity he saw before him_. If I'm being honest she would have led to it eventually – a human being adopted into one of the Great Houses – it was sure to sow the seeds of conflict…_

His beast, able to sense the guilt his master was feeling at bringing the same conflict to the West as his father had growled and swiped a claw through Sesshomaru's mind. _She is __**OURS**__. We chose. No other is worthy of our family. OUR FAMILY! Now-FIGHT FOR._

Sesshomaru smiled at the simplicity of his heart. His mind knew that there would be severe repercussions for his unprecedented actions, both personal and political, but his beast was correct, it was done, she was accepted and everyone would bend to his awesome will on the matter – and it was time to be getting to that bending…

His eyes took in every face and gave it to his beast to memorize in a flash so that when this was all done and over proper actions could be taken. Demons were clashing at demon speed, screaming insults and challenges, using both swords and claws. There were even a few scattered here and there in their true forms, a sign that the emotions that the fight invoked were deep and powerful ones. It was not limited to his soldiers; the staff had joined in and were just as bloody as the generals.

It had been approximately two seconds from the time he emerged on the scene for him to scan the battle twice. Finally he allowed himself to look where his eyes wanted to - looking at Kagome from across the courtyard turned war zone he could see that she was bleeding from several wounds, panting hard, and cradling something protectively in her left arm. Her right hand was held up, palm facing out with her fingers spread, and her eyes were searching for something, when she found it her hand would move to her new target. A quick flick of his eyes was almost impossible to make because all he wanted to do was watch her to make sure that she stayed standing until he made it to her side but he had to see what was keeping her from putting up a barrier to protect herself. Throughout the mayhem he saw small shields pop up to deflect potentially devastating blows. She was not protecting herself because she was too busy trying to protect everyone else. Not only was she protecting her protectors, he saw several shields pop up to protect those who were moving against her.

_What is she thinking?_ He thought took half a second to confirm that she was in fact protecting everyone from everyone else. _IDIOT!_

_Look at HER!_ His beast growled. _LOOK!_

Sesshomaru's skin was covered with goose bumps at the bad feeling in his gut as his eyes snapped to focus on her instantly at the demand and – _was that fear?_ – in his beast's growl. A dog youkai on the verge of transforming managed to sneak up behind her and swipe a claw down her back leaving three long rips in her blouse that would be soaked with blood as soon as her beat again. He watched as she fell forward onto one knee, curled over the bundle in her arm. He was moving forward, on the verge of a would-be transformation of his own if he had had the capability, as he watched in horror as the dog stood poised to attack her undefended back.

Fear, pure unadultered fear filled his body. He had felt something close to panic when Rin had been kidnapped but it was nothing compared to this reaction. He knew that if she died in this instant something in him would break and would never be able to be put right again. He needed her to survive more than he needed it himself – and that was a revelation of a whole new sort. Someone else took precedent over not only his pride, life but also over the West.

This realization caused its own fear to bubble up – he was witness to the creation of his own weakness. Something that could be used to get him to do anything someone else wanted.

No, we do no bend to others. We are strong. They will fear challenging us. They will die slow, horrible if they so much as touch what is OURS! His beast's challenge echoed in his head. And again Sesshomaru had to bow to the wisdom of his instincts. It was a simple matter of being so strong and formidable that no one would – could think of using his family against him. Growing stronger had always been a goal of his, now it simple had true motivation to reach perfection.

_I have heard that the battle field reveals a demon's true self but this is utter ridiculous. _Another half second lost to the emotional rollercoaster of inner revelations and he was moving forward with purpose.

Sharad having taken in the scene as well, though with much less understanding, was waiting for some indication from his lord. Seeing him start for the miko, Sharad took action. He grabbed the toad and, with a grace that belongs only to creatures that lack legs, maneuvered around everyone in their path without ever leaving room for an attack. It was done at demon speed but everything was happening with that speed so a lot had happened in the center circle. Kyo had appeared and was defending against the raging dog youkai and Jaken was guarding the fallen miko's front and there were two more youkai, a soldier on the near side and a cleaver-wielding cook on the other on the far side of the now profusely bleeding miko. This close he could smell the blood that was already starting to form a small pool under her where it dripped down her skirt to fall to the ground.

The momentary relief that he felt was shattered as Sharad, having guessed the direction of his lord's intention had completely misinterpreted his intentions, moved in snake-quick across the remaining distance and struck down the soldier guarding Kagome's nearer flank. As he coiled his muscles for another lightning strike, this time directed at the perceived enemy, Sesshomaru heard a familiar voice draw Kagome's attention to the attack. In response, Kagome's cloudy eyes lifted and Sesshomaru was sure that it was her avatar that looked out. Kagome had already lost consciousness; it was pure instincts that were keeping her moving and thus alive at this point.

The avatar looked right past the oncoming threat and looked straight at Sesshomaru. She smiled with confidence in her eyes as if she were looking at salvation made flesh. He had seen that look on her face before – aimed at Inuyasha when he would jump to her side and fight with renewed vigor. Her face and body talked to him across the space, **Ah, finally, you've come, I knew you'd come but what took so freakin' long. Tag, your it.**

The instant he saw that smile, directed at him, giving him the feeling that the world revolved around the strange priestess, he understood his half brother in a way that he never had before. _To have that smile directed at me I would do anything, too. _

_But then why did he hurt her heart so_, his beast growled unforgiving. And Sesshomaru's heart hardened towards his sibling again. The beast purred as thoughts of violence and retribution reigned supreme again in both heart and mind.

"Kyo!" she screamed as the last of the light faded from her eyes that had never left Sesshomaru's. She fell over causing a new gush of blood to ooze out of her back that seemed to set the demons in the immediate area into a frenzy. Those that were defending knew that they were on the verge of losing that which they defended and redoubling their efforts while to opposing side could almost see their purpose completed and surged forward with a victorious shout.

XXX

Kyo, undoubtedly smelling her life seeping into the ground under them, turned his back on the still struggling dog youkai that had just finished its transformation into a two story brown dog. There was no parry that he could make from where he was that would deflect the blow that was falling on his mistress so he did the one thing that he could, he stepped in front of it. It was a good thing for him that the snake was aiming for a prone figure, it meant that young demon's fist went through his side just above his hip so the worst damage was a fist sized hole through a fairly inconsequential area, meaning he could still fight. He looked up with pure determination in his eye, he had just found this beautiful soul, one that had his lord's favor, and no one was going to get to her while he still breathed.

Kyo looked down just in time to see a very Jaken looking creature slip past his defenses. _Damn, those little guys. They've so little youki that you don't even notice 'em in this kinda mess. _ However, he had a snake to take care of.

He looked over his shoulder at the bear youkai from the kitchen who had been at his back to alert him of the imp but the bear was currently occupying the brown dogs jaws and being shaken like a rag doll. However, bears are sturdy creatures and as Kyo turned back to his opponent he was sure that the loud snap he heard was the bear breaking the colonel's jaw.

That was the last thought that was able to spare. The snake had recovered from his failed strike and was ready to fight. _Dang, when did the lower ranks get such a formidable demon?_

XXX

Sesshomaru rushed past Kyo with a sense of gratitude that he could not express. She was alive but his beast, his heart, was not happy with all the blood that was still flowing from her wounds. Her miko powers had barely begun to stop the flow when she passed out, so it could have been worse but it certainly could have been better.

Suddenly there was a pair of white clothed legs standing in his way. Without consideration he let his poison claws rip at the obstacle, letting loose a bubbly gurgle of a growl only to fall forward and off balance as his hands met no resistance.

"Be calm, my son."

Sesshomaru heard the words but had moved past a point of reason as his instincts told him disregaurd this obstacle and move on to defend his fallen family member. He side-stepped the white billow but was faced with it again, and again as he side-stepped a second time. The anger and rage of his beast was starting to take more and more of his control, taking over their bodily movements. With his beast in control his movements became quicker, as if the excuse of physical limitation were no longer enough to contain it. And thus Sesshomaru's logical mind was only able to issue a small protest as he stepped through the obstacle, and an equally small question when it worked, all of which were ignored by the enraged beast rampaging through his mind.

The sight that greeted them on the other side of the apparition ripped an actual scream from his throat – Kagome was lying on her side curled protectively around and equally unconscious and similarly battered Rin. That Rin had come to harm within the walls of his castle was unthinkable.

Both of his halves went into a rage. Neither his instincts nor his logical mind could fathom a reason for Rin, the smallest and most vulnerable of his pack, to be injured within the safety of his home. The only thing that he could think of was destroying whoever had done her harm and betrayed him. He turned with tiny claws dripping green to take on any and all – no matter how impossible the feat was at the moment.

XXX

Seeing the death that was sure to come to his son at the hands of his ignorant retainers if things were able to continue as they were, he tried again to bring some sense back to the Western Lord. Words, even his words, were no longer effective with Sesshoamru's mindset. He remembered when his mate was taken from him, the instincts that controlled him. Even when his human lover was threatened, when there were no magical bonds tying them together, he was beyond words and reason. For a dai that has a new familial bond and an injured pack-pup in the midst of a battle focused on harming those vulnerable members…

Having experienced the instincts that influence dais the Inu no Taisho did the one thing that he thought might draw the demon lord's attention to him and get him to do what the ghost needed him to do. Inu no Taisho appeared before his son's rage filled eyes and stepped through the claw swipe, glad that he was incorporeal as the poison was a gift from his mother and even as her mate he was not immune to it. He moved to the two human females' side in an instant, noting happily that the beast in his son's eyes followed him. Now that he was close to them he slowly lowered himself towards the two and as expected his son moved without hesitation and surprising speed to intercept the hands that were descending towards his females. With little that he could do Sesshomaru simply threw his body over the faces of the females to stop that hand from touching them.

Suddenly, a tornado of reiki and youki blew up from the three forms lying on the ground.

A howl split the evening air in half demanding silence from all within hearing distance – which was very far indeed.

Every heart stopped at the earth shaking growl that followed.

Standing in their midst was the Great Dog General in all of his former glory, a monstrous beast larger than the courtyard itself. And he was not happy. His eyes were glowing red and his lip was curled back in a snarl showing teeth larger than any of the creatures standing below him. He lowered his head was so that it was held protectively over the two humans (and an imp that went unnoticed by most). The long hair along his spine stood on end and as some of the less seasoned combatants tried to flee the beast seemed to take offense that they dared move at all. The growl turned into a howl of rage that had no words, just the anger and outrage that was overwhelming his son's heart.

XXX

Sesshomaru had created a circuit of mythical proportions when he touched both the miko and the child. Rin was the vessel for holding his stolen youki and Kagome had almost as much power of her own and both were magically bond (pack and familial) to him now. Combining those facts and the magic that had called the dead to walk and work magic in the land of the living and the Inu no Taisho had been granted a physical manifestation powered by Sesshomaru's youki and Kagome's reiki, but all of them were bound very tightly at the moment so even Inu no Taisho was unable to be completely separate from the torrent of his son's emotions.

Thankfully the dais were not alone. Kagome, while slightly disoriented have Megoka to help her determine what needed to be done to calm the situation. First, protect. She took Rin's consciousness and wrapped it snuggly in her powers to protect her from the emotions and thoughts of the three adults. Once that was done she turned her focus to the other two. The chime of her inner voice called out to the two raging beasts. She called them with a firm voice and a flexing of wills that would make any alpha proud.

They came to heel at her call. Kagome and Sesshomaru were both about the same size but the Inu no Taisho was still monstrous. Millenia of existence had just made him more, but that did not intimidate Kagome's heart. She knew the man's sons and she knew that he was as they are – fierce but loyal, powerful but worthy, strong but controlled (when it suited their purpose). As the panting dogs came to her outstretched hands she held her left hand very steady for the mammoth beast to sniff while she used the right to pet and pull the smaller beast into her body to give the physical comfort she knew he wanted.

The larger beast, shaking off the influence of the rage, came up to the offered hand, sniffed and paused. He took another deeper breath of the appendage and slowly moved up her arm to her neck, snuffling all the way. She smelled like heaven and home. Sesshomaru had wrapped himself around the back of her body and it was the only thing that kept her up when the massive nose pressed into her stomach. Kagome opened her arms and her heart and embraced the monster.

Like his son, the Great Dog General fell to the love offered by a very unconventional human priestess. And in a land and a time where ancestors are a real influence on the living a second family bond that should be impossible (on several levels) was formed.

In the space where minds meet a white dog that was Sesshomaru's heart nuzzled the angel that was Kagome's heart of hearts and a massive ghost dog, much larger than either of the other two, curled his body around his children to add what comfort and protection he could.

XXX

In the real world, the ghost stared, red-eyed and panting as the rage eased its grip on his heart and peace took its place. His voice sounded in every head in the palace and even beyond to all of the demons that had come to the edge of Inuyasha's camp miles away. "These females are pack and more of the House of the West. Any who move against them move against the West. Any who move against the West shall die."

XXXXX

Author's Note:

First, let me thank everyone who is still reading this story. The only thing that actually makes me sit down and type is the thought that there are others out there waiting to see what happens. I really am enjoying this story and don't think it's fair to keep it to myself. So, if you like it please let me know, it will help motivate me more.

Second, I know that excuses don't really help but I have two to offer for my extremely late update:

I was very busy with a full-time job, a part-time job and a full course load for my graduate studies. I have recently quit my part-time job so this should give me a bit more time to finish this story – which I do plan on doing.

I have actually written this chapter almost a dozen time for a total of over 10,000 words. It was never right so I kept redoing it. Finally I realized that I was trying to force the story into what I thought was an interesting development rather than just letting the story be what it was. I was trying to avoid civil war, really I was, but it was just where the story was meant to go. And as Sesshomaru pointed out Kagome being part of the family would have done it eventually, even if she's not a mate she has the authority of the House of the West – more so now with Papa's adopted her, too. Plus, if you remember the god who set this all in motion had a large scale, long term goal in this curse deally-bob that this kind of accents.

Third, I am going to try to finish this story up before it gets around to its year anniversary so I have until May. I am hoping that by telling you all this it will poke at my conscience as a promise I have made to the readers.

Again, thank you all for reading!


	26. Chapter 26: Ghost in the Wind

Chapter 26: Ghost in the Wind

Kagome felt strange, almost like she wasn't quite all together there. Her mind drifted here and there, as if on a breeze and it felt like her body was along for the ride, catching the gentle currents of warm air that moved her this way and that.

_It's almost like being on a boat_. She thought to herself as she let herself experience the sensation further. But the calm she was feeling started to break apart as she felt herself getting caught in a stronger gust and carried further than she necessarily felt comfortable. _Or like being a boat – with a broken rudder._

Panic began to set in as she began to feel that whatever was going on wasn't quite as copasetic as she first thought. She might be calm but she wasn't peaceful, she felt empty – physically and spiritually.

She fought to open her eyes to no avail – blind. She tried to listen – deaf. She tried to speak – mute. She felt like she was wrapped in thick cotton and it was dulling everything even the panic.

Her last attempt to reach the world outside her foggy mind caused the first clear feeling she had – fear. She tried to reach out with her spirit but she felt no spirit – not outside of herself, but worse yet, not within herself either. She felt the claws of fear wrap around her heart and her strained laugh echoed in her empty mind. _I'm alone in my head. I know that to be alone in one's head is the goal of most sane people but I don't think I value humanity's so called 'sanity'. Really, in the sane world there is no such thing as time travel or overbearing demons or excess spiritual powers that came with their own inner voices – and those are three of my absolute favorite things in the entire universe! _

She tried to fight what was happening to her but she had nothing to fight with. She had no body, just the memory and a sense that she should have one. She had no spiritual energy, just the whole in her soul and the painful sense of loss that it left behind. _Somethings not right._

_Geez, Kagome, what gave you that idea_? she chided herself. _The better question is what happened. Okay, I got nothing. We were fighting all the The-West-is-falling-to-humans guys... I had Rin in my arms... oh! my back. There were claws on my back. It was bad. I could feel that it was REALLY bad right away. Uh... how bad is REALLY bad? _

_DEAD bad?_

_Oh, this is SO not good._

_XXXX Author's Note XXXX_

Don't worry, the next chapter is already written I just have to edit it - and it's much longer than this one.

I did want to send out my deepest appriciation to the readers who were kind enough to review the last chapter:

_**Killiara**: I am so happy to hear that you like the story enough to reread it even though I hadn't posted an update. I do that with my fav authors on here, too, and I think it's an honor for someone to do that with my story. Thanks._

_**waterflame4991**: I love the word 'marvy' I think I'll have to try and fit it into the story later, when things get more marvy. Thank you for reading._

_**brokenly yours:** Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. (PS - I LOVE your idea on your biography page - I'd like to believe that, too)_

_**hentai18ancilla**: We shall see, we shall see... Thanks for the speculations, it means that your thinking about where the story is going and as a writer I think that's a high compliment indeed._

_**misamiania**: Thank you for your dedication. Readers like you keep me coming back to do it some more._

_**TrueFan31**: Thank you for your kind words of praise. That last chapter was particularly hard for me._

_**CheshireCatGrin3421**: I hope this is soon enough for you ;) Thanks for reading!_

_**The Anti-Stratigist**: Thank you._

_**wintersalad**: I was so happy to see that you were still reading. You, I can honestly say, are the reader that comes to mind when I needed to write because there are others who want to see this story's conclusion. I have your fanart bookmarked on my laptop. Thank you so very much. _

_**brandonlov**: Thank you, I hope they will live up to your expectations into the future._

_**Euphoric Sorrow**: Glad you're sticking it out with me. (PS - that's an interesting screen name you have there.)  
_

And though not a reviewer, or even a reader that I know of, I would like to thank LadyFifi10, author of Vacation with the Boss. I agree with her last author's note - I am a reader on this site as well and look forward to regular updates and get sad when good stories die. I will try to treat others the way I want to be treated and update more regularly until I have a complete story._  
_


	27. Chapter 27: The Fragility of Hope

Chapter 27: The Fragility of Hope and the Heart

Sesshomaru stared in disbelieve at the still form of the human miko who had wormed her way into his life. He would have felt more at ease if she seemed only to be asleep, but she did not have enough of the signs of the living to give even that small glimmer of hope to his breaking heart. Her skin held the pallor of death, her hair limp and flat where it fell on the futon around her head. There was no flutter of pulse at her neck, nor whisper of breath passing through her body – she was still as the dead. The worst part, to Sesshomaru who had just become acquainted with her charismatic energy, was the lack of her unconscious empathic tides. He had become so used to the push and pull of her emotions on him that without her he felt his old self return.

_There is no reason to care_, he thought to himself as he watched the alien appendage that was his arm reach for her. He hesitated, knowing that he could not truly be his old self if he was voluntarily touching another, especially a human miko – he was changed, for all time changed, she had changed him, but… _What is the point if she is not here? I will be alone again and it will all be empty and meaningless – more so now that I have had a taste of.._. a taste of what? Life? Love? Hope? Vitality? Happiness? _… a taste of her._

Before his fingers could alight on the porcelain skin a second presence announced itself before the door of the guest room slid open. The formidable Inu no Taisho stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind him, leaving the room once again in somber silence. The resurrected general looked at the boney green fingers trembling as they hovered above the girl's face and felt a sharp pain stab him through his heart.

"Hope is indeed a cruel, cruel emotion." He said quietly as he stepped into the room and walked towards the futon on the ground. "Go ahead, my son, touch her and be reassured. Then we have other business to see to."

Without even turning to face the tall figure the diminutive toad took a deep, shuddering breath to steal himself against the cruelty of Fate, Luck and Hope. He closed his eyes because he could not bear to look at her death-touched face while he touched her and lowered his finger tips to rest gently on her cheek. He relaxed as the physical contact showed what was not to be seen with the eye, no matter how advanced the vision capabilities – Kagome's spark still existed, barely, but it was there under his fingers.

At the contact his beast, which had been strangely quiet, began to stir within his mind. The beast lifted its proverbial nose and scented the air of the mindscape it occupied. He could smell her, the beautiful light. _Angel. Mine. Ours. _

_She is not gone_, the beast growled angrily at its master. _You deny her spark because fear. You fear I will break, your heart will break, if she go; so you say in your mind she is lost. We are not so fragile. She is OURS. Same as WE are HERS. She WILL come back to us or we WILL go to her_.

The vehemence of his inner self was shocking. He had not remembered being so adamant when either his mother or his father died, but perhaps with age and power came increased instincts. If she were to be lost forever he wondered if his mind would be enough to stop his heart from truly following after her to wherever she was bound. He pushed the thought away as his heart growled in displeasure at his persistent pessimism. _Who would have thought that the blood thirst beast would turn into an optimist?_

Hope was an emotion that Sesshomaru had not felt, or more accurately not allowed himself to feel, since the demise of his mother and the resultant abandonment, even temporarily, of his father. Because of the devastating effect that hope had had on his heart those first few days and weeks, hoping ever second of every minute that his father would return to him, he had never hoped for anything again. Anything he wanted he got with his own power, any desire he had he worked to fulfill. He became capable of doing everything so he depended on no one, put his trust in no one. Of course there were times when he had to delegate, but he was constantly monitoring those whom he delegated to, never fully believing that they would be enough, always planning for the worst for the time when they did fail him. It was lonely and difficult, but he was rarely disappointed. No one was as strong as he so everyone failed to protect something he had given them to watch over; Jaken failed to protect Rin, Kyo failed to make adequate treaties to protect Sesshomaru's assets, Inuyasha failed to come to the battle to protect their father's name… Everyone failed him and he accepted that. He did not hope for more.

But now it was different. Now all he had was hope. And he clung to it. Hope that she was not truly gone. Hope that Kagome's heart and spirit were strong enough to survive whatever separation they were enduring. Hope that he could figure out the problem and fix this before it was too late. Hope that the gods would not decide it was time to take their angel back now, when he had just found her. Hope that his father would forgive his selfishness – his hope that the great Inu no Taisho could and would go back to the land of the dead and his Kagome would return from it.

The eyes that he turned to his father were full of the vulnerability that hope created. Hope was such a fragile thing, so easily shattered, and both father and son knew that this was a hope of the finest, paper-thin crystal – she was human and fragile and something unknown and powerful had happened. His father returned sorrowful eyes, full of regret and anxiety. Sesshomaru saw in his father's face the mirror of all of his hopes.

"Humans will do that to you. Teach you to hope," his father said as he turned his eyes to the virtually dead girl. He took the last two steps to the edge of the futon and kneeled down opposite of his son. "I, like you, had denied myself for a very long time, since your mother…," he closed his eyes at the pain that even the memory sparked. The Inu no Taisho looked up at his son with pleading in his eyes. "Izayoi was an indulgence to ease my loneliness, but Inuyasha – when I heard that I would have another child my heart came alive again with hope; so many, many hopes. When he and his mother were endangered by those idiotic… anyhow, I could not let all those hopes be destroyed. I died to protect those hopes. Hope not only for him, but also for you. The chance to give you a brother, family. To…"

He looked away from his son's cold gaze and he knew that his hopes to heal his son's heart had not been fulfilled. In fact he could see the scars that his half-blood son had placed on his eldest son's heart right alongside his own, not as deep or severe – but how could they be, but there nonetheless. If one were to picture Sesshomaru's heart the Inu no Taisho knew that there would be a deep, angry scar that nearly bisected the entire symbolic organ from where he had essentially ripped it in half centuries ago and the pup had done the best job he could to repair it and protect it. He knew that many assumed that it would also be tiny, starved from the lack of emotions the daiyoukai showed, but as a father and an extremely old being the Inu no Taisho knew better – his son's heart was no less than anyone else's, he had simply worked much harder at reinforcing the protective casing – dense bones, strong muscles, powerful youki, honed skills, sharp mind, intimidating presence, ruthless attitude and unreachably high standards for everyone (himself included). But there were still many scars from those who did hold some sway over the well guarded center, each one showing that the cold daiyoukai's heart was far from unreachable. The fact that there was a scar left by the hanyou was somewhat telling in and of itself.

"Father, do not speak of that bastard child to me." Sesshomaru said coldly, his imperfect mask in place. The moment of vulnerability was ruined with talk of that idiotic brute. Sesshomaru was also older and wiser than the last time he dealt with his father and he saw the shattered hopes in his father's eyes and he allowed himself an evil smirk. "Did you expect this Sesshomaru to protect him? You left this Sesshomaru the West to protect and while I was, and still am, worthy of my name this Sesshomaru was young and had much to defend – not the least of which was your honor after such a dishonorable demise. It would have been better for both your pitiful mutt bastard, the Western Lands and this Sesshomaru if you had died in your battle with the dragon."

The Inu no Taisho knew that his son was speaking his heart. Any time a dai used the formal speech pattern of 'this so-an-so' it meant that they were speaking for both of their halfs, both the intelligent mind and the beastial heart. And it cut deep into his soul to know that Sesshomaru truly thought that Inuyasha would have been better off dead at the hands of that twisted human. The very thought of his second son's potential death raised the his hackles and the long slumbering Great Dog General began to stir with anger.

Sessahomaru continued mercilessly, "No, Inuyasha wasn't able to fix what you had broken… not directly anyway. She did that. And here you are again, stealing not only my heart but also his. What do you think that mutt's reaction will be when he finds out his precious miko was broken by the father who abandoned him to the cruel fate of a bastard hanyou? The army that is practically at the gates is his, gathered with the sole purpose of getting her back. And now she lies here, for all intents and purposes dead. And there you stand – living with the energy you stole from her."

Inu no Taisho was willing to give his son the benefit of his grief, but he would not tolerate these accusations; that his should have died a new born, but worse that his daughter, as new and innocent as any new born, has died because of him. The Inu no Taisho's temper was as hot and quick and his son's was cold and deadly. He stood to his full height, his entire body shaking with rage, and bellowed at the imp sitting on the ground still trying to act unperturbed "I DID NOT KNOW! This Takeo would gladly give this breath of life back! But if I could – "

"Calm down, both of you," a deep, sure voice interrupted. Both dogs turned fierce faces to the intruder. He was tall and handsome but dressed in a strange outfit that Sesshomaru recognized from Kagome's memories of her father – it was called a suit. "Pup, your sire had no idea that something like this could happen. I did not even know that it could happen and that is saying a lot. I know I choose the two of you for this little misadventure because you are both so unpredictable, but I have to admit that I didn't think that it would turn around and bite me in the tokus like this."

Sesshomaru tried to jump to his feet to intercept the being as it moved closer to the not-really-living/not-really-dead woman but his body refused to obey his command. The beast in his head came to the front with a ferocious howl, trying to push through the restraint, roaring in frustration as they barely managed to come to their feet and turn towards the approaching figure.

"Oh-ho. Would you look at this! Even against my power, the instinct to protect is still this strong? Dogs!" Sesshomaru did not stop fighting to move forward but he was surprised to see that his father was struggling as well to move on the threat to Kagome. "If it is a fight of wills you want..."

Sesshomaru felt the force flex against his beast and he realized that this was almost the same thing as when his beast forced a lesser youkai into submission. This being was forcing two dais to submit. His heart rallied, _We Western Lords are not lesser beings. We do NOT submit even to a god without a fight. _

_Protect._

His comical fart/growl was echoed by a much more intimidating growl that shook the floorboards under their feet. The Inu no Taisho had just gotten this daughter, and like any father who just had a cute and completely defenseless baby laid in his arms he loved her with his whole heart in that first instant that he learned that she was his. Love is the most powerful force in the world, bar none, and just because she was human and adopted did not mean that he would not destroy heaven and earth – and a scheming god – to keep her safe.

"I know, I know. Fine. It won't do any good if the both of you pass out due to stubbornness. Trying to win a battle of wills with a divine being – it'll cause a brain aneurysm for sure. I'm backing up slowly now." The mysterious god said as he took three steps back. The father and son protectors stopped struggling to move forward but they did not relax. Both stood glaring at him, panting from the mental exertion of fighting against the will of a god. "Sit and we can talk." Neither father nor son moved, if anything the god was sure that they were stealing themselves for the next round. "Everyone always thinks that it's the pig that are pig-headed, but they seriously have nothing on the dogs – but I guess that's where we get dogged from. Okay, okay. Have it your way. The two of you certainly are dogged enough..."

He took two more steps back so he was nearly to the wall with a small smile for his horribly not-funny joke (that wouldn't work in Japanese anyway…) chuckling softly to himself. Sitting down seemed to do the most for relaxing the two edgy guard dogs. He sighed to himself and mumbled, "Well, it's that doggedness that will get him through the future…"

Sesshomaru's mind had not been restrained as his body was so his mind had already processed all the evidence it had and had come to a conclusion, "You are responsible for all of this."

It was a statement and it made the god smile. He liked the arrogant pup; he was brutally honest, to the point, and all about getting results. "In a manner of speaking, I am. I have various beings with whom I am working, like your father's ghost, or not-so-ghost as the case may be. You see I had a plan for – "

"This was unexpected," Sesshomaru said and moved his eyes to indicate the body of both the girl and the older daiyoukai. "Fix it."

The god smirked, "But if I could – you see things got… complicated. When the three of you and that little girl all touched a lot of different magics and energies got mixed together and some wires seemed to have gotten crossed. What with your youki that Rin had, Kagome's reiki, Takeo's magic combined with the energy of the living (pointing to the body on the ground and the imp), the dead (pointing to the white haired giant), and the resurrected (waving a hand – to indicate Rin) – then top it all off with a touch of divine power – I think that was the real clincher, my power – and I do feel guilty about that. You see, Kagome was more than just an unfortunate companion in this quest, she is… was… is like RIn, a being that was 'holding' unto a piece of what was taken from you. I gave her the piece that I had taken, what was supposed to be the last key – your body. I even had a cute rhyme for you after you got your nose back, but you haven't even gotten your teeth or ears back yet. You took the puzzle and threw it into the air and the pieces went flying and now I feel like All the King's Horses and All the King's Men trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. But at least your getting your 'tricks' out of the way. You learned to hope, and to lo… well we'll see if you can … development that one a bit more, (but you are a late-bloomer and dense as a door post so…. *mumbled so Sesshomaru could not hear but the Inu no Taisho caught it and smirked). Anyway, it looks the trick for his nose will be the tough one – sorry Puppy-Papa, I know it's the one you're most looking forward to."

Sesshomaru was listening to every nonsensical word trying to get as much meaning out of the rambling speech as possible but this last bit of information caught his attention and he turned his head to look at his father, barely registering the fact that he _could _move again. His father was staring at the strange god with a look of hope that looked vaguely familiar – a hope he thought he had shattered with his own words just minutes ago. Sesshomaru was not stupid by any means and a sense of apprehension started little pebbles rolling in his stomach. He saw the look of gratitude that the white-haired should-be-ghost sent the god before he turned with determination in his eyes and the pebbles had some friends, big rocks of foreboding.

There was a knock at the door that caught the room occupant's attention. The Inu no Taisho looked at his son for another second before standing to walk towards the door.

The god stood and smiled at the growing turmoil in his pet project. His plans might have been shot all to Yomi but at least it was a spectacular wreck – and there was still a chance that they would all still walk away from the crash… Just one more little turn of the screw, "I believe, that because she was designed to be the last piece of the puzzle you must simply finish putting the other pieces together, then you can get to mine, or hers, depending on how you look at it. Then the body which your father unfortunately stole from Kagome's possession will return to you, via her, and it will rip the borrowed life from him, putting it back in her and giving you your shape back. Then, if all goes well, it should be up to her to fight her way back to her body, though it will be a small window of opportunity and one heck of a struggle... But first – you already know where to find your ears and teeth, that shouldn't be too hard. But the last one, I don't want to spoil the surprise…but…"

He paused dramatically and looked at the Inu no Taisho who was standing by the door, listening. A beautiful and wicked grin formed on the god's face and Sesshomaru felt the apprehension pebbles and foreboding rocks set off big boulders of dread. At the slight nod of the god's head The Inu no Taisho slid the door open a crack, breaking the magical seal that kept the sounds from inside the room from being heard outside and vice versa.

Sesshomaru heard Kyo's voice speaking quietly but urgently through the crack of the door. "Sir, I am sorry to interrupt but an urgent matter has come up…" Kyo paused as the emotions from the room hit his sensitive senses.

"Yes?" the Inu no Taisho prompted.

Sesshomaru turned from the door at the wicked laughter from the god who seemed to be dissolving into nothingness. He was so distracted by the sight and sound that he almost missed the rest of Kyo's message.

"It's Inuyasha. He's here and he wants to talk to Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru closed his eyes as his insides were turned into a complete avalanche of disquietude. The missing piece, a dog's essential nose, had something to do with his half brother and he anticipated that it was not going to be something that he liked.

Absently his fingers stroked the girls face tenderly.

XXX Author's Note XXXX

There are many different versions of the story of Pandora's Box – when I first learned it hopelessness was the only thing left in the box meaning that people were still free to hope and through our hope we find happiness. But I read one where hope was actually one of the evils that escaped the box. To give someone hope keeps them moving forward but hopes are fragile, fragile things, just like people – destroy a person's hope and you destroy the person. I can't decide if hope helps or harms more…

Thanks **waterflame4991**, you're a marvy speed reader/reviewer

Welcome aboard and thanks for the review, **Icy Fae Tears**!


	28. Chapter 28: Knock, Knock I'm coming in

Chapter 28: Knock, Knock – I'm coming in.

Kyo swayed with the force of emotions emanating from the room at his pronouncement. The light of joy in the golden eyes that stared at him through the narrow opening was nothing compared the wave of elation that had Kyo swaying on his feet. But that was little in comparison with the wave of anger from somewhere deeper in the room that followed quickly in its wake, that had Kyo actually grabbing for the door jamb to steady himself.

Kyo was sure that the General was not empathic but he seemed to sense, or at least know of, the negative energies radiating from behind him because the light that lit the way to his soul died away, revealing a deep anguish for just a moment before the soul-window shut down to be just flat discs of unreadable yellow.

Kyo curiosity was piqued. Someone in that room had enough clout with the formerly late Lord of the West. If his need to know was just a matter of idle curiosity he would have stepped back and waited for a response like a good little soldier. But it was not as simple as that. Lord Sesshomaru was still missing. The deceased, former Lord of the West just popped up in the middle of a civil way and was walking around the house like he still owned it. Said resurrected lord had taken his pack-pup and a women whose soul echoed of the missing lord bond and secreted them away. The enemy at the gates had forced entry into the palace because there were not enough able bodied soldiers to keep them out at the moment and they seemed to know it, or at least have enough of a suspicion that Kyo and Jaken had made an executive decision that it was better to 'invite' them in for 'talks'. Jaken was currently occupying the dozen 'delegates' (though whoever heard of all the leaders coming as the delegation party) but the level of potential violence in that room had set even the most seasoned warriors nerves on edge. The situation had to clarified and rectified and all the potential answers were waiting in that room and Kyo had to know what they were – for his lord's, lady's and land's sake.

_Curiosity killed the cat_, Kyo thought as he stealed himself for his next, rash move. _Let's see how the dog fairs with it._

"Excuse me, sir," Kyo said in a firm voice as he reached out with his right hand and pushed to door open. He met with some resistance as the Ghost Lord, as some had started calling him (and Kyo thought it quite fitting) instinctively resisted the forced entry, but Kyo had an unintentional advantage with his left already braced against the jamb. He pushed past the resistance and stepped in past the surprised demon with his right foot and pivoted so that he continued to face the potential threat and slide his left foot in smoothly to briefly touch the right and then back so that he was in more or less a fighting stance. Quickly he shuffle-stepped back, right foot back in an arch towards the left foot then out again to plant firmly, followed by the left. He reached out with his left hand and used the inside edge of the door to slide it shut on the few guards who had accompanied him.

The Inu no Taisho had not taken kindly to his rude and forceful behavior. His eyes had turned into a burning orbs that seemed to hold dancing flames of bright yellow, glowing gold, and deeper orange, looking for all the world like an actual fire lit in his soul. Kyo started backing up as the predator let his monstrous presence and slow advance intimidate his prey. His body said clearly, **Punishment. You will bleed for this insolence**.

_Such passionate temper. I had forgotten how quick and hot it was after so many centuries with Lord Sesshomaru's icy cold, calculating temper…_ Kyo thought as he balanced the situation against his responsibilities to his absent lord and duties to the West. He came to the same conclusion as a mere moment earlier – there was too much up in the air, too many unknowns, too much confusion. Answers were mandatory, backing down was not an option.

**Make me**_, _he replied with a jutting chin. (But as is the case with inu-body language, sometime things you wish to not say are still betrayed by one's body, like a mumble that just slips out. Kyo's rounded shoulders, mouth set in grim acceptance and his defiant scowl muttered, **You will undoubtedly do it, and a good job of it, but I'll make you work for it because you are not MY lord**_**.**__) _

**Resistance?** The Inu no Taisho's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. An evil grin spread across his face flashing his legendary fangs. He rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder, never taking his burning eyes off the young retainer, as he slowly began to close the distance as Kyo worked to increase it. **It's been a while. Oh, I am going to **_**enjoy**_** this…**

In the back of his mind Kyo was preparing for his death while the front of his mind exalted the beautiful form of death as it stalked him. He could not take his eyes off the paragon of inu-youkai that was about to hand him his ass.

And suddenly there was no more threat. The dai stood up straight, rolled back onto his heels and nodded his head. And like that he turned and started pacing the far side of the room, rolling his shoulders and flexing his hands trying to work off some energy.

At first Kyo stayed tense waiting for this new game to turn fatal but after a moment it was clear that there was no ruse, the Inu no Taisho had backed off. Still, Kyo did not drop his eyes from the animal he had caged himself in with. He had poked it and he was waiting for the bite.

When he felt something touch his hand he jumped and began struggling. And everything was happening all at once.

Kyo growled threateningly as he looked down to see that the imp fingers had brushed his hand, seemingly to try and get his attention (the imp had tried words but the inu was too focused on his opponent to notice).

Inu no Taisho focused on Kyo instantly and became a white blur charging at him across the room.

The imp reached out and gripped the inu-youkai's wrist.

Kyo's head was filled with the growl of displeasure from none other than Lord Sesshomaru's beast.

Inu no Taisho red-eyed face contorted in severe protective anger as he leapt through the air to tackle Kyo.

The relief of hearing his missing lord made Kyo weak in the knees.

The imp took advantage of the weakness and with a quick jerk had pulled Kyo to his knees.

The Inu no Taisho barely missed Kyo head as it ducked down to touch forehead to the hand on his arm, rolling his head to the side exposing his throat to his lord.

The Inu no Taisho wheeled around to come at him again.

The imp tried to take back his hand but Kyo now clung to it desperately.

Kyo was pushed flat on the ground under the heavy weight of a much larger male who pinned his shoulders to the ground and snarled in his face.

Kyo squeezed the hand that he had refused to surrender.

The imp huffed and Kyo's body was overwhelmed with the presence of his lord's beast which seemed to flow into him, to crowd out his own consciousness. And the beast used Kyo's throat to growl in a pitch and with an authority that Kyo himself did not know he was capable of.

The Inu no Taisho weight was removed and the imp hand was yanked out of his grasp.

Kyo, fearing to move simply turned his head to the side where he heard growling and whimpering.

Kyo watched in amazement as the 6'5" (196cm) frame tried to wrap around the tiny figure of the imp inspecting ever inch for any damage. The imp had a very put-upon look but waited quietly for the doting to be over. The fearsome Inu no Taisho was beside himself and there was only one time when he had ever witnessed anything like it, and it was a secret memory that he treasured.

The teacher had given up practicing hours before Sesshomaru had and so they were left alone in the dojo. Kyo, however, did not have the stamina of his young lord and fell asleep. When he awoke he was alone in the dojo. He quickly went to the bathhouse, the normal destination after their evening training. He stepped into the fragrant, humid air but stopped when he heard voices. He slipped through the changing room and cracked the door of the bathing area. He was shocked to see the intimidating Lord of the West grooming his son with just as much affection as any other inu-father. Kyo had always feared both the lord and his son, seeing them as creatures of blood and glory that were simply more than any other youkai could compare with – to see them acting like normal inu-family was shocking. He felt like he had seen a deep secret, and apparently so did the doting inu-father. He turned red-rimmed eyes to the door as he moved his body between the door and his son's vulnerable back, which was to the door. His lip curled back in clear warning. Kyo had run in fear knowing how protective family members could get when intimate moments were invaded. He claimed 'sickness' for several days until the Lord of the West was called away on business again before returning to his duties as Sesshomaru's companion. Sesshomaru had never seemed quite so intimidating again to Kyo, and maybe that is where the father's anger came from, but it made the lords more real and less legend to Kyo and it was from that incident that Kyo's dedication to Sesshomaru had begun to blossom into complete devotion.

It had taken less than 2 seconds for Kyo's world to be turned on its head a half dozen times and he was just going to close his eyes, lay back and let it all sink in for a minute. Sesshomaru wasn't missing, he was right here, just not quite himself – okay, very much not himself. Something had definitely gone wrong but Kyo believed that with Sesshomaru home things would start being set to right.

He knew that it was the imp/Lord Sesshomaru by the flap-flap of the footsteps and the slightly moldy smell that Jaken always seemed to have, which must be indicative the species. He opened his eyes and looked up at the beak, then the bulbous eyes as the poor creature had to tilt its whole torso in order to look around its own queer head-shape at the prostrate male.

Kyo seemed to come to himself and realize that while things were clearly not normal there was no reason for him to continue acting quite so abnormal. He quickly switched his position so he was kneeling with head bowed to the side in front of the imp.

"Hnn," was all he got in response but he knew its meaning and looked up. He let all the questions that were bouncing around in his head show in his eyes. Sesshomaru looked at him coolly, then turned and looked behind him; first at the miko lying on the ground and then at the sliding door at the back of the room where there was a door connected to the next guest room. Kyo followed his gaze.

The brilliantly pure, bright soul of the miko was gone. She was dead. Kyo felt his heart ache at the loss of his newly found mistress. Quickly realizing that she was Mistress because Sesshomaru was Master he looked at his lord for signs of … he wasn't really sure what he was looking for but he knew the loss of a packmate was hard on an alpha, and she seemed to rank so much higher than that, so something should show. But Sesshomaru betrayed nothing, in fact he seemed to be straining to hear the whispered conversation from the doorway that he was still looking at. Kyo listened to the quiet whispers of the Ghost Lord and his strange human packmate.

Sesshomaru turned back to his retainer with cold calculation in his eyes, weighing him, making some decision. Kyo looked into those so familiar eyes in that completely different face that was still shorter than his head while kneeling and looked away; ashamed of the pity he could not hide. The mighty Sesshomaru reduced to this thing was too strange, too sad, too wrong, just too much.

"Hnn."

It seemed like Lord Sesshomaru was also summing the situation up in his own eloquent way. That particular 'hnn' seemed to say, 'Yeah, this is some f'ed up shi# I've got going on here. Welcome to the party.' (Of course that was a very liberal translation from Kyo's overly sitimulated brain that was still recovering from battle, severe blood loss and idiotically challenging the most renowned inu-youkai in history.)

Kyo opened his mouth to reply but just then a squeal erupted from the room and tiny feet flew over the tatami. With almost demon speed Rin was rocketing into the room. The site of the splint on Rin's arm prompted an angry growl to bloom in his throat that he quickly swallowed as it seemed to halt Rin in her tracks. She stared wide eyed at Kyo for a moment. Fear started coming off of the little girl in waves. She seemed unsure of what to do.

At the girl's reaction Sesshomaru turned angry eyes on Kyo and Kyo felt a chill creep into the air. For a moment Kyo was at a loss, unsure of what had happened to make the girl afraid of him. He had gotten more than a few small injuries defending the two humans and was expecting gratitude not terror. He watched the girl as she quickly stepped behind the little imp who was half her height and grab onto his sleeve – a clear sign in any pack of one member seeking the protection of another against an aggressive third.

Then, without hesitation, a tiny bony hand shot out and was around his neck. Kyo tried to back up but there were very strong hands on his shoulders holding him down that his nose told him was the Inu no Taisho (_Dang, he can move fast for a dead guy!_) who was also not so happy with him. Sesshomaru's beast roared through his mind and none to gently went through the past couple of hours of his life to the point where he gave Rin over to Rika with permission to harm her.

Sesshomaru's beast was a cold breeze through his mind that had Kyo cowering in fear. The father would kill him but the son would make him wish for death, and that he could not prepare himself for. He had taken a gamble with Rika but he had not realized how very badly it would pay off.

It was actually Rin herself that came to his rescue. She began tugging on the sleeve and pointing at the dead woman. "Lord Sesshomaru, Mr. Puppy, the Nice Lady doesn't like what you are doing to Mr. Kyo."

Instantly Kyo found himself forgotten as both males moved away towards the human. They began inspecting her and Kyo was left with the strange little girl. She looked up at him doubtfully and said, "Rin knows that the adults think Rin is a silly little human girl. Rin is little, and a girl, but Rin watches and Rin understands lots. Mr. Kyo was playing a game, but lost and Rin and the Nice Lady got hurt. But Rin will forgive Mr. Kyo because the Nice Lady wants to protect you and because Rin knows that you have defended _**all **_of the pack against the demons who hate what is not pretty or normal." 

"Rin?" Sesshomaru's squeaky voice called drawing the girl away from Kyo's side.

"Not there. She's not here," Rin patted the blanket that covered the seemingly dead woman as she knelt down on the opposite side of the futon from her lord, next to the tall puppy-man. "She is where Rin was going when the wolves… That place is pulling on her, like it did when Lord Sesshomaru called Rin back, but she is not going either."

"Rin, honey," the Inu no Taisho said to the girl as he pulled her into his side in an affectionate embrace. "Do you see her somewhere? Do you hear her talking? How did you know she wanted us to stop hurting the mongrel over there?"

The girl looked at Sesshomaru who was absentmindedly stroking the dead woman's hair affectionately. Rin watched the hand as it made a few passes through the dark locks and then looked back at her lord. "She is important to Lord Sesshomaru," she stated. She looked up at the tall, kind man who looked so much like her lord, "And Mr. Puppy, who just met her loves her," she declared as truth. She looked over her shoulder at Kyo who was still several feet away, "Mr. Kyo and Rin, too. Rin sees threads, shiny pink threads like a spider's silk. They go from her," she pointed up, "I can see an invisible person, all curled up like she's cold and alone, but there are all these threads from her to us. I see lots of them. The one to Lord Sesshomaru is the most thick, like a rope, like a boats rope that you tie up so the boat won't drift away. The one to Mr. Puppy is like a chord to tie up precious things. Then for Kyo and Rin there is a string, the kind for tying things together. There are a bunch of this kind. Then there are lots and lots of thin threads going out into the world. When she did not want Kyo hurt the pink lines started to Lord Sesshomaru and Mr. Puppy began to pull and the one for Mr. Kyo began grow and tried to go all around him, but it make the Nice Lady invisible body fade so even Rin could not see her. The Nice Lady saved Rin and now Rin wants to save her. Please, Lord Sesshomaru, please."

The emotions in the room were wreaking havoc on Kyo. There was so much fear, anxiety, hope and pride that he was getting dizzy. With all the evidence available he was able to surmise that the girl was dead but not completely (however that worked) and it was apparently with an unprecedented amount of raw power, both spiritual and willful, that she had used her love for those in her life to anchor her soul to this plane of existence. Though Kyo wondered desperately at what had happened in the past two weeks that had made Sesshomaru the girl's anchor line to this world, and he wondered what she was to his lord.

"Rin, how did you know me?" Sesshomaru had loosened his grip on the lock of hair, instead he was rubbing a thumb over girl's cheekbone.

"Lord Sesshomaru is Lord Sesshomaru, even if you look like Jaken today," she stated as if it was a silly question, or maybe just a silly game that Sesshomaru was playing.

The raised eyebrow aimed at the Ghost Lord asked, **Did you tell her?**

The tiny movement of the head gave a nagative response. Then the yellow eyes looked down at the girl by his side with a contemplative look. He looked back up and shrugged one shoulder as if to say, **I don't know what this little thing is all about. But she is an odd one. **Looking between the two women he smirked, nodded and said without a word,** You seem to like the odd ones. And I approve of these two anomalies quite a bit.**

**I do not need nor ask for your approval, father.**

**Very well. However, it's still true.**

Rin hadn't been paying attention to the exchange and suddenly jumped up and walked around to the side of the sleeping mat that Sesshomaru was kneeling on. She knelt down and bowed deeply and bravely laid out her own deductions, "Lord Sesshomaru, Mr. Puppy is not a play-puppy anymore; he's real inu-youkai. Everyone can see him and now no one can see the Nice Lady. Mr. Puppy said that Lord Sesshomaru would need me to fix something. Will Rin be invisible next; is that how she can help?"

"No. This Sesshomaru would not harm you, even for Kagome's sake."

Rin sat up and asked, "Then what can Rin do?"

A deep voice stated grimmly, "It is not Sesshomaru's doing that needs to be fixed. It is something I have done. Now, I will take you away, but first you may say good-bye to your lord."

Sesshomaru began to stand but stayed where he was at the stern look from his father, but it was clear to Kyo that Sesshomaru was seething. Kyo watches as Rin nodded to the tall figure who stood and walked to stand next to her, waiting for her to finish so that he could take her life away. He was amazed at her calmness as she patted the miko on the head as she said, "Please take good care of Lord Sesshomaru, Nice Lady." Then she turned to the imp and asked, "Rin is sorry, Lord Sesshomaru, I wanted to play with you and Lord Jaken longer but Rin thinks it's time to go. May I say good-bye?"

The tightness in the imp seemed to make him vibrate and again he looked at the tall, imposing dai with what could only be describes as hatred in his eyes. "Do as you wish, Rin."

Rin stood, stepped over to the figure. She seemed to hesitate and looked at the elder dai. At his nod she took a deep breath and leaned down and hugged the stiff little toad and seemingly on impulse said, "I love you, father," dropped a peck on his head and turned away, taking the Dog General's outstretched hand.

The Inu no Taisho had the small girl in his arms and hugged her and kissed her forehead as both the imp and the girl seemed to spark with energy, and an overwhelming surge of youki filled the room. It was so great that Kyo blacked out for a moment and came to on his hands and knees. He looked up to see his lord collapsed over they miko's body. Rin was clutching the tall figure staring at the fallen lord. She began crying but the Inu no Taisho mumbled reassurances and rumbled in the inu-youkai way for giving comfort.

"Time to take you away," the Great Dog General said to the little girl as he turned away from fallen form of his son.

Kyo jumped up and raced to intercept the dai and his burden. He had failed his lord and his pack earlier and he was not about to let it happen again.

"Oh-ho. Such loyalty will be the death of you."

XXXX

Kyo awoke to Jaken splashing water on his face. He looked around. He was in the Sunset Rooms, the suite immediately to the left of Sesshomaru's own residence, in the magically protected family wing. He turned his face to the side, ignoring the imps screeching and saw the sleeping form of the little girl curled up in the circle of Ah-Un's legs. He turned his head the other way and saw – Kyo jumped up.

Not a dozen paces away was the mammoth Matriarch of the wild dragon herd that lived in the mountains. The wild dragons were living nightmarish legends for the citizens of the West and the biggest, baddest of them was lying protectively next to the dead-but-not-quite-gone miko and curled up next to her was the cursed form of Lord Sesshomaru.

Instinctively he took a step to rescue the pair when he suddenly realized he was the focus of those enormous, bestial eyes. They did not really see him, they saw either threat to her charges or not-yet-threats, and to step over that line would mean instant BBQ. A sound brought his attention to the open doors that led to the family wing's private garden and the three large dragons who were also staring at him waiting for him to move one inch closer to their leader.

"I think I should be extremely thankful that I am alive, and I absolutely am; but I think I need to lay back down for a bit."


	29. Chapter 29: Reunion

***Warning – only quickly edited so there might be more mistakes than the tons I normally make***

Chapter 29: Reunion

InuYasha had gotten tired of the guards' quiet insults and aggression. The humans might not hear them but he and Kouga sure were able to. Miroku had drilled him on how important it was to remain calm and to be civil – for Kagome's sake. It was the only thing keeping both the hot-heads in their places.

InuYasha was using the trick of counting to 10 (or in this case 100) before hitting anything that Kagome had tried to get him to use. It didn't help at first, then he started to envision a different way of killing the guards with each new number and it was working better.

Then the guards made a critical error in their verbal assault. "Look at this half-breed – I heard she was some human slut, just begging for a rut, with anyone that would have her." InuYasha was on his feet in outrage at the slander against his mother, but Miroku laid a restraining hand on his arm. "And I bet that's what that whore back there is all about, too, spreading 'em for any—"

Miroku was quick for a human – and apparently could hear quite well for one, too. He was over the low table, across the room with staff in hand and had it upside the youkai's head before InuYasha had even registered his arm was free.

"Keh. It's about freakin' time!"

InuYasha jumped to his friend's side as the rest of the guards closed in around him. He heard Kouga let out an excited whoop as he jumped to his feet and started letting out some tension through his fists. Sango added her two cents, though InuYasha was pretty sure by her controlled attacks that she hadn't heard the comment about her. There was a general consensus that they weren't trying to kill anyone, just teach them that the "rejects and misfits" could kick their as—, ahem, butts. The only two sideliners were Mushin and Jinenji. How a group of youkai overlooked an experienced monk and a seven foot tall horse hanyou was beyond InuYasha, he was just thankful for more skulls to crack.

Just about the time he and Kouga were finishing up with the last of the second wave he caught a whiff of the scent he'd been waiting for – but there was something off. It was different somehow. It was almost the same but there was some fundamental difference – it was deeper, heavier, more… powerful.

InuYasha's heart clenched as his mind processed the possibility. Subtle scent changes weren't completely unheard of, it was part of maturation, though the core scent remained unchanged the nuances developed. He had witnessed Sesshomaru's scent change slightly with the appearance of Bakusaiga. Now there were rumors everywhere that the Lord of the West was on some great training quest that was intense enough that he left the entirety of his pack in his keep.

His heart began to race with thoughts of why Sesshomaru had kidnapped Kagome, the strongest, albeit untrained, yielder of spiritual power around. He raged inside. _Kagome is not a spiritual whetstone!_

He felt himself start to slip into that red haze. He could feel his claws and teeth lengthen and sharpen as his cheeks began to burn along his cheekbones. He gripped the scabbard of his precious sword hard and felt it pulse. He was on the verge of attack so he dismissed the answering pulse of what he assumed was Tensaiga from the hallway.

InuYasha was prepared to glare into his half brother's eye, looking for guilt there. The figure stepped around the door frame and into the disheveled room and InuYasha wasn't looking into Sesshomaru's eyes. In fact, he was looking into any eyes, he was looking at a white-clad chest. _Right color, but…_ He looked up another foot and his racing heart stopped cold. _Right color there, too_. His eyes inched up a fraction to the house symbol adorning his brow. _Right… color… there… too. _InuYasha took in the whole face again and his heart hammered once like a giant mallet on rock. He swayed slightly as he stared at the impossible. The impossible stared back.

The only sound in the room was labored breathing of the unconscious, injured guards. The silence stretched. And strained. And became uncomfortable, then painful. No one seemed willing to even breath.

InuYasha's brain was working overtime trying to distinguish the truth. His instincts told him one thing, but his mind couldn't wrap around it and his heart wanted to deny it. _It __**cannot**__ be him. I won't let it… I can't accept it… It's not possible…No._

"InuYasha?" the monk called in a very gently and bravely into the tension. He got an ear swiveled in his direction, to show that InuYasha had heard him. He waited a moment and tried again, calling his friend not with a question but a statement of understanding and an offer of support, "InuYahsa."

InuYasha turned his head away from the puzzle in front of him, to the side so he could look sidelong at the monk. He felt something in his chest ease and was thankful to his very core that he had such a true friend. He knew that most pack leaders were not flexible, but he was a hanyou and his human half knew the value of working as a team to each member's strengths; he might be alpha, but his beta was the diplomat and quick wit of the group. With his customary "Keh" he nodded his head and turned his focus forward again.

Miroku stepped up next to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. Miroku knew that while InuYasha would deny it vehemently he was comforted by the touch from his group and this situation warranted some subtle physical reassurance. Miroku looked at InuYasha's face, and in the burnished gold flicker of eye contact he was able to see the fear of the truth that seemed to be standing in front of them. Miroku squeezed and let go of the shoulder and looked past the red shoulders to the wolf demon standing on the other side of InuYasha. Kouga gave back begrudged affirmation. It seemed to be who it seemed to be.

_Okay, then. Let's get this party started…_

"Sire, shall we move to another room," he looked around, "one, perhaps, with fewer bodies and more whole pieces of furniture."

"I think I am going to like you, monk," the deep bass seemed to reverberate even with the simple pronouncement. When he spoke with authority to order a new room prepared and this one cleared everyone in the room felt it down to their bones and had to resist the compulsion to join the palace staff in cleaning up.

XXX

The air was scented with blood and there were bodies of palace guards strewn about from the brawl that the intruders had just finished. The 'delegates' hadn't escaped unscathed but they were standing, even the humans, and the well-trained youkai soldiers of the West were not.

Takeo survived the damage, not really focusing on anything in particular. _They are a strong group, they much fight well together and trust each other greatly for them to finish, what… nearly a dozen of the best soldiers (at least that are still in any shape to be on guard duty), in the 15 or 20 minutes since Jaken left, with only 4 active fighters, and leaving everyone alive but in no shape to fight again today. Hot damn he is my son!_

And it was then that he look, really looked at his son for the first time since the day he was born over a century ago. His heart stopped with the flood of emotions and the beast inside him went first silent, then raged with such passion that Takeo had to look away and take a few deep, shaky breaths to stop himself from howling in joy.

_Our Hope!_ His beast roared in triumph, using the unique name that youkai hearts seem to call people, labeling them with their essence and the emotional impact. His eyes could not resist going back to that beautiful face, now filled with disbelief, distrust and just a hint of … fragile hope.

InuYasha seemed as indisposed at Takeo himself was feeling, but InuYahsa seemed to have a wonderful beta who stepped up without fear, offered comfort in an acceptable manner and smoothly flowed into the role his alpha was granting him – negotiator. The man even checked with the young wolf king before proceeding to calmly demand a new room with poise and humor.

Takeo looked in the man's eyes and knew that he wasn't focused enough for the shrewd intelligence that was peeking out. "I think I'm going to like you, monk." _Not in the next hour, but for my son, for the friendship and strength you give him, for what you will face and do for his sake – for that I will probably like you a great deal. _

"Prepare the Crane Room for guests. Clean up this disgraceful mess." He barked. He turned to step out of the room to make sure there was someone scurrying to follow his commands. When he turned back around he was looking at two sets of flared nostrils topped with red-shot eyes.

Takeo paused, sniffed and felt the slight breeze from the hall coming down the hall now that there were doors on either end opened to admit the flood of demons hustling to do his bidding. Very faintly he could still smell it – human blood. Kagome's blood.

XXX

It was a nice room that the Inu no Taisho had brought them to, a library of some sort with rows of shelves with cubbies filled with scrolls. Around the room there were short chairs at tables with ink stones that were obviously work spaces and a fresh breeze drifted through the open doors that led to a well kept graden, complete with walkways, a koi pond and a shiny, red lacquered bridge. A relaxing room, meant for long stays and calm contemplation. However, Miroku did not have the luxury of succumbing to the atmosphere of the Crane Room.

"About Lady Kagome…" the monk said clearly, meaning to get things rolling, and in the right direction.

The Inu no Taisho gave him a very unfriendly look that he let slide off him. Miroku saw the frustration and admiration in the General's eyes. _He is honest and straight forward, like InuYahsa, which will make this easier. Miracle of miracles! I would have been screwed beyond belief if he were as impassive as Lord Sesshomaru – and that is not something I appreciate from men…_

"Tea." It was both a demand to the servants and an excuse to stall longer. It could just be the youkai that he was but Miroku's instincts told him that something was off – now to determine what.

"While we await the tea service, why not get onto business." He left no room for objections, looking over at his friends as a way to avoid even seeing a gesture of forbearance. "The palace seems to be in quite a state and I am sure that there are many things that acquire your attention, not to mention multitude of things you must wish to do with this miraculous restoration you have been blessed with."

The Inu no Taisho could not help the wave of guilt that had both the canines in the room looking acutely at him. Miroku, did not miss the reactions of either side, though he would have missed it if he wasn't looking steadily into the Inu no Taisho's eyes now. _So much like his son. Can't lie worth beans in the eyes. Honest eyes – the kami's gift to men of my nature! _

"Yes, it has been quite eventful around here recently." It was an obvious evasion, but still there was a pause while they waited for the General to say more.

_Effective tactic, say little and let your opponents fill the space, revealing their hands with even the smallest of comments, gestures and, for him, scents. Not a bad strategy. _Miroku recognized mentally while suppressing a grimaced. _Still, I'm at a disadvantage because I need to get information while he simply need not supply it. _

"There was such a ruckus just a bit ago," a slight pause to check with the guys with noses – _something but not the source of the guilt_, "and now that we are here there is a great deal of damage and blood all about the place," pause - _no_, "and Lord Sesshomaru is nowhere to be found." Pause – s_omething but small, not 'it'_. "However, we are not here about the state of the Western Lands, we are here about our friend and companion," pause, nostrils flared – _something not so small_. "We know that she traveled with Lord Sesshomaru's mount westward and at Lord Sesshomaru's request." _Truth but not 'it'_. "We simply wish to see our friend and hear from her own lips that she wishes to be here." _Almost it._ "We are concerned for her safety, particularly with the **strange** things that have been happening here." _That's it._

_Kagome! _

_XXX_

InuYasha had been traveling with Miroku for a long time now and he knew the man's dance. He could lead an unwilling partner at his own pace all day, but it rarely took him that long to get to the heart of the matter. And with an adequately distracted opponent it was brutal, and such was the case with the Ghost Lord. InuYasha saw to triumphant look on Miroku's face as he found whatever it was he was looking for morph into a look of terror.

He was standing, holding his sword in his left hand, right hand on the hilt, ready to fight at the rage that instantly overtook the look of terror. The rest of the party was right behind him; they were sure what the threat was, but they were back to back ready for it.

"Where is Lady Kagome and what strange thing have you done to her!" Miroku's voice was harsh with an anger that none of them had ever heard before. He didn't speak loud or soft, but it had an intensity that made the air spark with promised of violence and pain.

The tension in the ever calm and soothing monk was too much for the already overtaxed emotions of the hanyou. He leapt at the tall figure, dropping his sword and giving over to the fear and anger that had been burning in his heart – the old forest fire of his father's abandonment to a harsh life in a cruel world meeting the recent inferno of Kagome's abduction and his brother's betrayal.

His brain registered the flashes of emotion over his father's face – surprise, guilt, sadness, anger, love, dominance, and finally a look InuYasha had never seen, the one that closed his heart to the youkai in front of him, the look of a parent about to reprimand a naughty child. His heart denied the Dog General the authority over him, even his connection to him. He roared defiantly as he rushed forward.

XXXXXXXX

Author's Note

Thank you for everyone who has reviewed my story. I do appreciate it and it was thanks to _**CheshireCatGrin3421**_ and _**never3kno**_'s recent prodding (well timed with Spring Break) that motivated me to sit down with this story again. This chapter, and possible future chapters, will be shorter so that I can keep up with my updates better. I won't even use the excuse that life is busy because I've recently come to the conclusion that it will always be busy and it's just a matter of making time here and there to squeeze in the things you want to do with the things you have to do. Here's hoping I can squeeze in some more next week.

Shout Outs to the Reviews!

Thanks _**CheshireCatGrin3421**_ & _**ever3kno**_ – you were the kick in the pants that I needed (again)

Thanks _**Tiajei**_ for your many reviews.

_**brandonlov**_ – this is InuYasha we're talking about – when does he ever make things better? He can make them dead, but better?

_**darke wulf**_, your comments are very encouraging. Thanks for commenting so many times!


	30. Chapter 30: Ink Stone and Paperweight

Chapter 30: Ink Stone and Paperweight

Sesshomaru felt peaceful. It was a rare feeling when both halves of his soul were in complete accord on anything, and when it did happen it was almost always about proving their superiority, and generally in a fairly brutally bloody way. This tranquil unity of soul was completely new.

Sesshomaru harrumphed breathily, knowing that he must be in the process of waking up; the dream space that the only place he ever remember being one being, both logic and emotions inseparable. He resented leaving this place that felt warm and smelled so wonderful.

The smell tickled his nose. It was a newly familiar scent that sent his heart skipping along to a merry little tune. He felt his long lips curl up in contentment. He could feel that he had done something; something strong and magical and permanent and absolutely _right_. At the moment, this moment, he knew what it was and it made him very, very happy.

He tried to hold onto the word, hold keep it and the rare emotional high that came with it, but that attempt that quickly became desperation as it slipped away was the trigger that began to rouse him from his deep, magical sleep.

_Not yet_, he felt his other self say as it pulled away taking the beautiful word and profound knowledge with it. _Neither are ready for this now_.

_But it is already done_, he protested, feeling like a petulant child who was being sent out of the room while the grown-ups talked – only the grown up was himself. He felt himself collect, quicksilver that had been spread out condensing quivering droplet by quivering droplet, _and I am the one who did it so I have a right to know_.

_Trust your heart on this one_, an angelic voice chimed in his heart, _you obviously already know what happened – but you are not ready for it yet, neither is my mistress, so you've hidden the truth from yourself. But it is the truth, and it will not change just because it is not known, that's how truth works. Besides, my Frog Prince, you have to break this asinine curse so you can become Prince Charming and wake ussssSleeping Beuty._

_Why is there someone else in my head? In my dream?_ He thought to himself, but being in his head thoughts were as good as said.

_Silly puppy! You're the one who latched onto me and invited me in – heck you tied my up and pulled me in_!

Her strange words, and crazy pictures that flashed through the strange thought-image-word way of the in-between like a children's story book combined with the smell and warm feeling… it all tickled something in his mind. Finally Sesshomaru's mind restored to its 'normal' schizophrenic state and the hints and memories fell into place.

XXX

"Kagome!" the imp shouted as it jumped to its feet, seeming startled by everything around it, including itself.

Jaken refused to believe the lies that Kyo and Rin had been telling him. He had served Lord Sesshomaru for centuries and knew the power, grace and cunning of the dai. There was no way that the imp, while handsome by their specie's standards, contained the soul of his lord. Lord Sesshomaru was simply too great to be brought so low. It was just impossible. He doubted that Lord Sesshoamru would ever willing touch a human (other than Rin, who wasn't really human-human anyway), little own the dead miko of his hated half brother, even in deep unconsciousness. And any trace of doubt was removed when the charlatan woke calling out the purtrid female's name. He was sure Lord Sesshomaru would never lower himself to even know its name, much less say it aloud, and never with such intense emotion completely apparent (neither the emotion nor towards the human filth).

He would not fall victim to the miko's spell. _Thankfully, she was unconscious by the time I saw her, otherwise I would be corrupted just like these two. I will not fall, I will protect the West from these horrid creatures and keep Kyo and Rin cloistered away so no one will see their sorry state. It is a blessing indeed that Lord Sesshomaru is not here to witness the betrayal of his pack. I will tell him of the human wench's deceit and wickedness when he returns, he will destroy her completely – and that mongrel she belongs to, too (finally) – and restore everything and everyone. He will praise this faithful servant for my unquestionable loyalty and…_

His internal monologue was interrupted by a series of crashes and resounding booms each followed by a shudder that seemed to shake the entire castle. Jaken, like every other conscious being in the room, looked at the door to the room that the Pack had been relegated to. The roll of youki that spread out made everyone's skill crawl and itch. As the crashes and tremors seemed to gain in intensity so did the monstrous youki waves. There were two of them and they felt so similar to Sesshomaru's youki that only someone who had a great deal of exposure to a pissed off Sesshomaru would know the difference. They were similar but subtly different, both to each other and to Lord Sesshomaru's – one was chaotic and bestial and somehow temperamental, fluctuating wildly with spikes that were not nearly as powerful (and assumedly not a fraction as effective) as Sesshomaru's true potential. The other one, however, was as steady and as strong as Sesshomaru's but with a touch of the chaos and passion that Sesshomaru's did not have.

If there was any doubt that it was not Sesshomaru's youki though it was quickly dispelled by the almost sense deafening response pulse of pure Sesshomaru that answered that battle cries of the other two. But there was little doubt as to who the other two were – youki, like scent, is only shared with those of the same lineage – family – and Sesshomaru had precious little of that left alive… even counting the resurrected members.

"Oh joy, Lord Sesshomaru has returned!" Jaken began to squawk loudly, "He will know what to do about all of the troubles. He will prove that he is the rightful Lord of the West, destroy that vile hanyou, and show those doubting fools that he is even greater than his father was, now that there can be a fair comparison. My glorious lord wil-"

Suddenly Jaken was laying face-down on the ground with a growing lump on the back of his head and Sesshomaru's youki riding down on him hard. Tears of joy welled up in his eyes as he turned to face what he was sure to be the boot of his missing lord. Instead all he saw was an ink stone a little ways away on the ground and a very angry looking imp that could have been the twin of his late Uncle Yun. Jaken looked around the room, searching for his lord, wishing (not for the first time) that he was a more powerful youkai that could track such things better, just to be flat on the ground again in a moment with paperweight that matched the ink stone hit the back of his head in nearly the same spot as the first assault (yes, paperweight - it's a pain when a scroll rolls up on you while you're trying to read or write it).

Uncle Yun's doppelganger walked up to him while stars still dances around his head. With a strangely familiar, "hnn," the imp cocked his leg and kicked Jaken's prostrate form. From his position on the ground Jaken looked up and the diminutive figure who was looking down his beak at him.

New tears, tears of hurt and confusion welled up in his eyes as he saw his lord glare down at him. Unconscious Jaken was able to write off Kyo and RIn's crazy claims, but starring up into those yellow eyes the force of the personality behind them could never be mistaken. Jaken began to cry silently, shaking he turned his face away from the travesty of what he wished he could still deny.

A moment later Jaken heard RIn's voice from right in front of him, "Did Lord Sesshomaru hurt Lord Jaken very badly this time? Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Jaken are the same size now but Lord Sesshomaru will always be the greater. Lord Sesshomaru is still Lord Sesshomaru."

Jaken began to bawl. He wanted to deny it all. The world must be ending if his magnificent lord was reduced to this… this…this, this.

"Jaken," the squeaky voice held as much authority as King An, the greatest of all the imp kings, was capable of. His lord was calling him and despite his broken heart and fear for his lord's future he would always be loyal to his great and noble lord, no matter what. He knelt before the figure that was now barely taller than him and felt a strange closeness to his lord. And for a moment he thought he might have seen an answering acknowledgement of some shared understanding of life from the short, ugly and green perspective – but it was gone instantly and Jaken knew that it must be the tears that were still cascading down his face because his lord did NOT do sympathy, and he definitely did NOT do empathy.

"My lord," he said as he bowed. The figure moved a step closer and an impulse and instinct followed the traditions of his people and leaned forward in his bow and kissed the feet of the one he recognized as his leader. In imp culture feet were the symbol of power and beauty because as with deer who fight for dominance with their horns and wolves with their teeth, the imps strongest attributes with which they proved their superiority was their strong legs and deadly talons. (It also didn't help that they were short compact creatures that tended to need to get very low to the ground to be lower that the bigger, badder fellow).

"Stupid!" Sesshomaru growled and Jaken braced for the kick that he was sure was coming, but it never did. Jaken looked up at Sesshomaru who seemed to be swaying in a wind that surrounded only him.

"Kyo wake me as soon as possible, before those two morons destr-."

Sesshomaru passes out cold on the ground right in front of the stunned retainer.

"Don't worry, Lord Jaken," Rin said as she patted his shoulder, "Lord Sesshomaru will be happy to have his ears back. Dogs need their ears even more than they need their houses standing."

"Indeed," Kyo said as he came over and lifted the tiny bundle. He carried it over to the dead human and laid it close to her side, moving several long tendrils of the girl's hair so that some was directly in front of the imp who promptly grabbed in it in his sleep and buried his nose/beak in it, inhaling deeply, sighing and seemed to settle into a deep unconsciousness.

_Oh, I have a bad feeling about this whole thing_, he thought to himself as he watched the imp that was his lord sleep – dare he associate the word with Sesshomaru, even in this strange guise –happily.

There was a rumble from the open window and Jaken shivered at the sight of the ancient Matriarch that was sunbathing on the balcony of the private rooms of the Lord of the West. She seemed to feel that she had the audience's attention and rolled her eyes, saying for all intents and purposes, **Yeah, but I bet he's not going to see it that way when he wakes up. **

XXXAuthor's NoteXXX

Thank you riversan for the review.

Euphoric Sorrow, I'm glad you liked the way I wrote Miroku, I'm really unsure about writing from different characters' POV for some reason.

And RedMoonFate your review was super encouraging, thanks!


	31. Chapter 31: Conversing wBlood and Fist

Frog Prince Chapter 31: Conversation with Blood and Fists

There was little left of the library or the adjacent garden within a matter of minutes. The Inu no Taisho seemed to be baiting the pissed off hanyou. Evading blows at the last moment, issuing comments on form and technique, and insulting the boy's pride with light taps or pokes when he decided to show him where the weaknesses in his defenses were.

Takeo had seen the group that followed his youngest son take in the situation as InuYasha launched himself at the seasoned warrior with looks of worried exasperation, but then they looked at each other, nodded and turned away – it was InuYasha's fight and they would let him have it. Instead they turned to keep others away from the fight. The Inu no Taisho had demanded that the guards that rushed into the room stay back but tension was too high, in-fighting too recent, an enemy army too near – add to that the leader of the enemy force starting a fight inside their territory and it was no surprise that they were jumping the gun… sword. So InuYasha's group was busy making sure that the peanut gallery was entertained, with mouths working desperately to waylay the interference but with the more than the occasional physical reminder to listen up.

For the first minute InuYasha was attacking with passion, just slashing out in anger. He grunted and screamed and yelled, but nothing of consequence, just noises to express the same rage his fists and claws seemed unable to convey (no contact seemed to negate the message he was trying to send the apparition). He listened to the taunts and his attacks grew more wild, he drew more of himself out in the battle. He had left Tetsuaiga behind on purpose, wanting to fight this ghost all by himself, and he felt the tickle in his soul as he accessed more and more youki without success, it was a challenge just to stand. He hadn't touched the old dog and he was already starting to feel the minor damage building up, not that the arrogant apparition had deigned to hurt him but hurling oneself about leads to a fair share of accidental collisions with inanimate (and very frequently hard) objects.

To those who live by the sword, a battle is like a deep conversation. The fighting, the swings, faints, evasions and few words translated to whole dialogue to the old and the old dog alike. The first few minutes where introductions, but now that they had the feel for the other they could get down to the nitty gritty.

"Shut the hell up, old man. I got my style and it's kept me alive."

_Takeo heard his son refuse to acknowledge him. He heard him accuse him of abandoning him, of leaving him unprotected in a world that hated him just for what he was. He heard the ache of loneliness and isolation of being a taboo outcast. He heard his son's pride and what it had cost him earn and keep it. He saw his son's desperation to prove that he did not need a father. He saw the fear of rejection and desperation to protect the life the dog-eared boy had carved out for himself. _

"Silly pup, you got more than just your fangs from your father." He evaded the blows and stepped into the room that was on the far side of the garden that had just gotten a new entrance in what had been a wall thanks to InuYahsa's mid-range youki-claw attack. InuYasha followed, jumping over the splintered remains of the lacquered bridge.

_He said that the boy was being young and naïve, denying the truth they both knew. He had left what he could, his fang was only a part of it, if the most obvious. He had left the boy strength - of genes and personality. He acknowledged his son's life, his struggle, his achievements. He said that he would have given more if there had been more that he could have given. But he refused to apologize for his life, or his death. He carefully sidestepped calling the boy his son, letting him know that he wouldn't force the issue but he was asking him to accept the opportunity that they had._

"Keh! Like hell, bastard, I'm my own strength now. Not you. Never that asshole! Not the old geezers. Nonna ya damn high 'n mighty lot did squat for me. Nobody… I got my own pack now. I don't need your sh-" InuYahsa charged the tall figure who gracefully, and quite forcefully, redirected the red clad missile using his attacker's momentum to send him flying into, and through, the wall of the room they had just entered via the garden, which seemed to be some kind of office.

_InuYasha said that he had more than made up for whatever boost Tetsusaiga (in its original state) had given him. He accused Takeo of leaving him with a brother who hated him and who only ever screwed him over. He scoffed at the 'retainers' that were supposed to be of some help. He told a million tales of abuse, torment and suffering at the hands of his father's people. He whispered of the rejection of his mother's people who, not being capable of the same physical abuse, more than made up for it with even longer term emotional damage. He declared himself separate and complete without either group. He had found his own place in the mix of in-between being that he had met and who stood by him now. He told stories of their adventures and hard-won trusts and friendships. He spoke volumes of each of their characters, loyalties, and abilities. He denied his heart that wanted desperately to be accepted by the people that had continually rejected him for something he had no control over, something that was his (Takeo's) fault._

"I can see that, but you are still a pup in need of a father's strong hand." He stalked after the figure that was retreating down the hall he had been thrown into, trying to get some space to maneuver. There were soldiers at both ends of the hall in moments, spears, swords and bows all drawn. InuYasha made a quick dash through a screen wall, shoulder first, rolling as he hit the ground and coming up in what seemed to be a show room for ancient weapons and armor. The Inu no Taisho let out a deafening roar along with a massive billow of youki and grinned a malicious little grin while cracking his knuckles as he stepped through the hole. "Why are pups always like this?"

_He told his son that he did see his point but that he was still so green he was an embarrassment. He told his son that while he had suffered he still didn't get crap about the way the world worked. He said the age-old line, 'this is going to hurt me more than it does you', with the addition of 'but you aren't likely to be walking away without a world of hurt, too, you cocky little SOB'. He expressed his own frustrations over not being there for his son, and his anger at the world for having so mistreated him, his determination to see that this opportunity was used to do what he could for him – which seemed to translate loosely to beating the living crap out of him. He denied the intruders the right to attack his prey – this was __**his**__ son, __**his**__ hunt, __**his**__ style of tough love. He was punishing and protecting his pup at the same time. He had done it before and he would do it again, and a little part of him enjoyed it because: it was part of the responsibility of being a father (and this was the one opportunity he would probably ever have to do anything for, or be anything real to, this son), it showed the similarities in his boys, whom he wanted desperately to connect, and it was fun to have someone challenging because they were so few and far between for bloodlines like his._

"Freaking psycho." InuYasha scanned the room and tipped over a row or armor as he went to duck out the doorway on the far side, shaking his head.

_He refused to give in. And the psycho comment was for both his father and his brother. He refused the help of his ancestors, still relying only on his own strength. He accused and acknowledged that his father enjoyed beating his children, and said that he knew it was the inu-youkai way – brutal and effective if nothing else. He said no one, Sesshomaru or him, would stand around and enjoy this father-son bonding process. He wasn't running, he was just making a strategic retreat. He was jealous that Sesshomaru had had the opportunity to have their father as a real father, to teach him all the lessons and give him this psychotic lesson. He didn't want to say it (but he did very subtly), but he felt good knowing that Sesshomaru had done this, too, that it was normal and his father was doing it with him now. He secretly felt great joy at being like his brother and hoped that someday he could be as strong – no stronger – than him, so that he could be the one running away with a whole in his gut. He said clearly, but under his breath that He did feel bad the whole arm thing, but he would not regret protecting his friend. He'd do it in a heartbeat – to anyone who tried to kill his Kagome. _

"Yeah." Takeo put on a burst of youki-enhanced speed and was behind the boy, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him through the solid wall and into far wall in the next room before he could run too far. He picked up a bo staff from the wall, one of his great-grand sire's favorites, and walked causally towards the crumpled figure, sending wave after wave of youki to press down on his target. As the pup was just about on his feet he twirled the staff and brought it up under his chin, barely a love tap for a youkai, but it snapped his head back and sent a stream of blood down his neck and chest, oozing from a split in his chin. With another twirl the imposing dai brought the staff down across his back, hearing a tiny crack of a rib breaking with his hypersensitive ears. He took a step back and twirled the staff lazily as he looked around.

_He told his son what his problem was: no respect. He needed to respect his father, his heritage and the help that others offered. He needed to stop and listen to those who were older and wiser had to say, doing otherwise would end up being quite painful. He made it very clear that he was much bigger and badder than the pup could dream of. The pup wasn't a threat and he was offering a cease fire in favor of talking it out._

"Grrr!" InuYasha growled and launched himself at the figure. The figure dodged, several times, and the growling became louder and InuYasha's eyes began to bleed red and stripes began to fill in on his cheeks.

_Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! _

Suddenly their conversation/fight was interrupted. A fire cat, which was vaguely familiar to Takeo appeared with the female slayer riding it. She got off the cat and took one look at her alpha and a grim look settled on her face. "InuYasha, we've got some problems. We need you to pull it together."

When she got a growl in response she turned to the Inu no Taisho and began addressing him. "Sir, I am sorry to interrupt. Could you-"

Takeo's beast growled in warning before Takeo's mind could register the problem. Thankfully his instincts were on the ball even if he was being distracted by his son's dozen decades worth of emotional baggage. What his beast knew was that in the current agitated state, with his having called on more youki than most hanyous even have just to be able to stand under the pressure of the Great Dog General's oppressive youki, and thus more of his inner bestial nature, his instincts would flare at a female from his pack turning her back on him and going to his enemy and begging for something, anything – it was bad.

Thankfully InuYasha did not seem to be the type of alpha that would let his temper out by reprimanding the errant packmember, rather he was the one that seemed to feel the need to prove himself better than the one she had turned to. _Now there's probably a lot of psychology that could be read into that_ ~ Takeo thought sardonically to himself.

The blows started to come faster and faster as more red began to color InuYahsa's eye and the pupils, event he irises, seemed to dilate and change colors and bursts of angry youki pulsed from his body. Takeo was being forced to use more youki and cause more damage, serious damage, as InuYasha seemed to be losing it.

With one particularly devastating blow that left InuYasha left arm dangling loosely from the shoulder socket and kinked at a weird angle just above the wrist he seemed to pause to take in his surroundings, which had by this time changed a great deal.

Takeo, too, was taking in the scenery. They were now standing in the large, open area by the gates where guests were usually greeted. There was rubble everywhere and the air was smell smokey from a fire that had been started in one of the rooms accidently as they fought, though how it happened Takeo couldn't quite remember clearly. If he could kill, or even fight full-out, it would have been a simple enough task; but holding back, trying not to hurt his son too badly, to keep it within the realm of a family squabble and not a for-real battle – that took a whole lot more concentration. Then the details of the scene around him started to sink in. There were beings all around them – youkai, human and in-between – and they all looked pissed and ready to kill each other.

Takeo shifted slightly to look at the gate of the castle – Takeo had destroyed it with his own personal energy attack (Sesshomaru had his whip, InuYasha used the image of slashing claws, Takeo used spiked chain – there's probably some weird psychology there, too, if one were to stop and examine it), he was trying to remember if they had ever crossed out and then back into the compound when he realized that it didn't matter – what mattered was that the enemy army had decided a fallen gate meant they could wander into the castle. However, they were not attacking because of the slayer and monk who had already been in the castle were working desperately to calm everyone down. The younger monk, Miroku, seemed to be focusing on the group of wolves and bats that seemed very antsy to get to the good stuff, and the slayer focused on the human and collected hanyou.

The tension was high and the pause in their own battle seemed to draw most everyone's attention, even the slayer and monk quieted. Someone on the Western side decided it was a good opportunity to try a sneak attack. One of the younger wolves that had snuck close to the enemies in anticipation of the fight suddenly was gushing blood from a nearly severed arm.

Instantly InuYasha was by the fallen youkai and then diving into the midst of the Western soldiers. The attack had been a beautiful; quick, effective and covert; the perfect thing to light the powder keg of a situation if given a second to settle - but InuYasha apparently felt very protective of his allies and had traced the scent of the offender and dealt a quick death before most registered that there had been one attack, little own a counterattack.

But the now deceased opportunity-grabber's companions did not take kindly to his untimely demise, or the marauding hanyou that still held pulp that was once the youkai's heart in his hand. Suddenly there was fighting everywhere and Takeo had to rush in to save his son from terrible odds. He was in the thick of at least 20 soldiers all intent on killing him, and while in the two seconds they had been attacking he'd managed to not die it probably wouldn't last another two.

Things had digressed once again to a worse-case scenario.

Then salvation came in the form of a tsunami of youki – Sesshomaru's youki – that flowed over the entire compound, forcing most youkai to their knees, sweat popping out on their foreheads as they fought to maintain consciousness, and the spiritually blessed humans to the ground, clutching their heads with tears running down their faces. It was not just the impressive youki of an truly infuriated daiyoukai, it was also the magic and power of the Lord of the West within his own stronghold. Ancient magic magnified the sheer awesomeness that was Sesshomaru.

"Cease." The only one not already complying was the far-gone hanyou and those he was engaged with. He appeared, pulsing and glowing with visible power shimmering off of him high in the sky on one of the wild dragons, with the fearsome matriarch at his back. "Father."

With all the pain of a parent forced to take extreme action with their child for that child's own good, Takeo used all of his power to knock out his son. It was almost instantaneous, he was the Inu no Taisho after all. But Takeo knew he would regret hurting, really hurting InuYahsa. He already regretted starting the whole thing, (he wanted to bond with his son, inu-to-inu, he did not want to start a war, son-vs-son).

"Kyo, Jaken, begin repairs – fix everything."

"Yes, m'lord," the two said in unison as they descended from beside their lord on the back of Ah-Un.

"Come, Father. Bring that along as well." Takeo, who was completely capable of flying on his own, mounted the twin-headed dragon and gently cradled his profusely bleeding son in his lap and gentle coaxed the dragon into the air with just some slight pressure from his knees.

"No." Sesshomaru commanded as Miroku and Sango began to follow of the fire cat. They paused and Kyo rushed to their side and began to whisper furtively in the monk's ear – not even the closest youkai could hear the words but the monk's shoulders relaxed and he pulled the slayer into his side and laid a chaste kiss on the top of her head. She might not know what was going on but the monk's behavior sure as anything told her, and everyone who backed them, to be calm.

And with that the House of the West left their ancestral home on the back of untamable dragon mounts.

XXX

Sango looked up at Miroku who was rubbing her arm soothingly and asked in her best breathy so-as-not-to-carry whisper, "What in the world is going on?"

Miroku squeezed her arm with his hand and her body with his arm in a sideways hug. "I don't know but it's a doozy for sure…"

"Oh, you can say that again," said a strange voice from behind the couple. "I was sitting there trying to figure out who someone like me can pray to for a miracle. Seriously – if I wanted unpredictable I chose the right freaking family! I got it in spades – might as well try to shoot the moon at this point…"

"You are trouble." Kouga was suddenly there, between the humans and the strange being, more aggressively defensive than either of the humans had ever seen him. He was slowly trying to force the humans to back up away from the seemed-to-be man, throwing crackling demon energy at him and signaling for his pack to come to him.

"Most certainly; the worst kind, too. The kind that could hand you your head, and that of your entire tribe, on a silver platter if I wanted to, whelp," the strangely dressed man said, responding in kind to the hostile welcome, "but right now I want you three to play it cool, make everyone think we are all simpatico. Then we'll ditch this hotdog stand (get it hot**dog**) and have a nice long heart-to-heart about this whole FUBARed mess."

"Are you a friend of Kagome's, from the you-know-where? Your clothes kind look like you-know… different, nice but different and you sound just like her. (mumbled, but heard: can't understand half of that nonsense Japanese…)," Sango asked curiously over the wolf's shoulder.

He looked away from the angry wolf to the stunning young woman and smiled sweetly, his good mood restored at the sight of such beautiful human vitality (the bright, short candle and all that) and the humorous sizing-up he was getting from the monk at her side. "Let's just say that I don't even need the you-know-what to get to the you-know-where like you-know-who… whos - there are two you-kno-whos that can do you-know-what." (*wink,wink*)

"Huh?" Kouga grunted uncomprehending.

XXX Author's Note XXX

AutumnApple, thank you so much for the super positive review. It's really nice when somebody says something so nice about what I do. Thank you.

MiladyPrincess (and anyone else who is wondering) - that's what they are trying to figure out, whether they know it or not. At this point I don't know whether they are 'going to end up together' or what that might even mean. At this point I'm trying to figure out if Sesshomaru's going to be restored. I would like to think that this is a happy story with a happy ending, but I'm with the god on this one - these are completely unpredictable characters! As soon as I think I've got a good idea for a chapter and sit down to write they hijack my fingers to go and do something I wasn't expecting and have no idea how they are going to get out of. The whole Kagome's kinda-sorta dead and the Inu no Taisho isn't anymore - COMPLETE SURPRISE! InuYasha attacking his father - did NOT see that one coming. Heck, I didn't even know Sesshomaru was in this chapter until he appeared on the page - for which I am extremely grateful because I did not like where things were headed! (Although... it does make one wonder how he managed to do that all things considered...) I'm actually looking forward to each new chapter as much as you are because I don't know what will happen next.


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